


Breaking the Cycle

by JayColin



Category: Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Power Rangers, Power Rangers Time Force, Power Rangers Zeo
Genre: Alternate Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Relationship, Language, M/M, Mpreg
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-08-18
Updated: 2016-12-15
Packaged: 2017-11-12 09:49:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 89,772
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/489534
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayColin/pseuds/JayColin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A new kid arrives in Angel Grove and befriends the rangers, but he's got a secret that he doesn't initially share with them. Will they be able to handle it or will they reject him?  AU story set in the MMPR/Zeo era, with appearances by a pre-Time Force Wesley Collins.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Summary: A new kid arrives in Angel Grove and befriends the rangers, but he's got a secret that he doesn't initially share with them. Will they be able to handle it or will they reject him?
> 
> Pairings: Rocky/OC, Tommy/Adam, Jason/Billy
> 
> Author's Note: This story is set in an alternate universe in which the International Teen Peace Summit happened before the arrival of Lord Zedd and thus Rocky, Adam, and Aisha replaced Jason, Zack, and Trini while Rita Repulsa was still the enemy. There may be other differences as well, but, you'll have to read the story to find out what those are. The story is rated for future chapters.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter One

-o-0-o-

Seventeen-year-old Zaidan Prince looked around as he entered the Angel Grove Youth Center Gym and Juice Bar. From what he'd overheard at school, this was where most of the other people his age hung out when they weren't at school. Zaidan had never had many friends growing up, so, the thought of maybe forging a few friendships now was something that he wanted to try at least. Of course, he was the new kid in school, so, he wasn't sure if that was even possible. It had been his experience that a lot of people loved to pick on the new kid and never give them a chance. It was one of the reasons why Zaidan had moved around so much - he'd attended seven different high schools in three years - all because he just never seemed to be able to fit in. He hoped that it would be different here in Angel Grove.

Taking a seat at the bar, Zaidan picked up a menu and perused it for a moment before a heavyset man in a Hawaiian shirt asked, "You're new around here aren't you?"

Zaidan nodded. "Yes, today was my first day at AG High. My name is Zaidan Prince."

"Zaidan," the man repeated. "Interesting name. Unique. Anyway, I'm Ernie and I own this place - welcome to Angel Grove. Now, can I get you anything?"

Glancing at the menu again, Zaidan said, "A strawberry mango smoothie."

"Nice choice," Ernie said. "Anything else?"

"No, that should do for now."

"Okay then, one smoothie coming up," Ernie said with a smile, as he turned away and began making Zaidan's drink.

"Hey, new kid," said a voice. "You're in my seat."

"Yeah, you're in his seat," another voice piped in, as Zaidan turned around and saw who he'd learned at school were two of the school bullies, Bulk and Skull.

Raising an eyebrow, Zaidan said, "Really? Because I didn't see your name written on it."

"It looks like someone needs to be taught a lesson," Bulk said, as he puffed himself up and Zaidan couldn't help but think he looked like a blowfish.

"Yeah, teach him a lesson, Bulk," Skull said.

Zaidan rolled his eyes and said, "If you want to humiliate yourself, then, by all means, go right ahead and teach me a lesson."

"I warn you, I know karate," Bulk said, as he adopted a look that Zaidan assumed was supposed to be menacing. It didn't faze him though. The one advantage of attending seven different high schools in three years was that he'd dealt with more bullies than he could count on both hands.

"Oh, really, am I supposed to be scared?" Zaidan asked.

Instead of commenting, Bulk tried to use some very slow and clunky karate-like moves on Zaidan, which he easily dodged. It was quite clear that Bulk's so-called karate skills were nothing more than him trying to imitate others who were actually skilled in the art and in Zaidan's opinion, he was doing a very piss poor job of it. He highly doubted that Bulk ever had even ten minutes of formal training in his life.

"You call that karate?" Zaidan said. "Let me show you how it's really done."

Taking a few steps back, Zaidan launched into an impressive kata, moving so fast that Bulk and Skull started to get dizzy just watching him. Finishing his routine, Zaidan said, "Now, leave me alone, Bulk, Skull - you're so far out of your league it isn't even funny."

"Ah, yeah, we'll just be going now," Bulk said, before he hightailed it out of the room, with Skull following close behind.

Sitting back down on the stool he'd been sitting on before the two idiots showed up, Zaidan pulled some of his homework out of his backpack and started doing it while he waited for Ernie to finish making his drink. He didn't have to wait long, before Ernie placed it in front of him and said, "Here you are, Zaidan, enjoy. And good work with Bulk and Skull."

"Thanks," Zaidan said, as he grabbed the glass and took a sip. Smiling he said, "This is delicious. If all your other fare is as good as this, you've just gotten a new regular."

"Well, I try," Ernie said with a smile, before he went off to take another customer's order.

"That was a very impressive display," said another voice.

Turning to see the source of the voice, Zaidan was glad he had set his glass down or he was sure he would have dropped it in shock. For standing in front of him was what had to be one of the most gorgeous men he'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. He felt himself getting hard almost instantly and quickly began to picture one of his new teachers, Ms. Applebee, naked in order to avoid embarrassing himself. He had, after all, picked out a pair of jeans that morning that, while they didn't interfere with his ability to pull off the kata he'd just done, would have left absolutely nothing to the imagination if he didn't reverse the course of his hardening member quickly.

Tall and nicely built, with short brown hair, the newcomer was wearing a pair of black jeans and a red sleeveless t-shirt that was so tight, Zaidan almost thought that the guy had just dyed his skin red. Not that he was complaining, as it gave him some of the best eye candy he'd ever had, but then, considering that they were in a public place, that wasn't necessarily a good thing. 'Calm down, Zaidan,' he thought, 'before you embarrass yourself. Yeah, he's hot, but if you want to make friends, you can't scare them all away by letting your hormones do the thinking for you.'

"Thanks," Zaidan said with a genuine smile.

"I'm Rocky," the man said. "You're new in school aren't you?"

"Yeah, today was my first day. I'm Zaidan."

"Zaidan - well, that's certainly an interesting name," Rocky said. "I don't think I've ever heard it before."

"Yeah, it is pretty unique," Zaidan agreed.

"My friends and I were wondering if you'd like to join us?" Rocky asked. "Most of us are into martial arts as well."

"Most?" Zaidan asked.

"Well, Kim is more into gymnastics," Rocky explained.

"Ah, that's cool," and then with a smile, Zaidan said, "Sure, why not? Just give me a minute to gather my stuff."

Rocky smiled and nodded, as Zaidan turned in his seat and gathered up his homework, which he quickly placed in his backpack. Grabbing his drink, Zaidan stood up and slung his backpack over his left shoulder and nodded to Rocky, who then led him over to a large table where several other people were sitting.

"Everyone this is Zaidan," Rocky said after he grabbed an extra chair from a nearby empty table for Zaidan before sitting back down. Zaidan was happy to see that he'd be sitting next to the brown-haired god of his dreams.

"You have some really good moves, Zaidan," a black-haired Korean boy, who was dressed from head to toe in black, said. "I'm Adam."

"I'm Kimberly," said the perky pink-clad girl that Zaidan was sure was a cheerleader. "But you can call me Kim."

"I'm Aisha," said the short, yellow wearing African-American girl.

"Billy," said the blond guy who was wearing glasses and dressed in blue.

"And I'm Tommy," said the long-haired guy clad in white.

"A pleasure to meet you all," Zaidan said with a smile. Looking down at his own stonewashed jeans and purple t-shirt, he grinned and said, "We've got practically every color of the rainbow here, don't we?"

The others all laughed and Rocky said, "Yeah, we're a colorful bunch, all right."

"So, Zaidan, you certainly seem to have a good grasp on martial arts," Adam said. "How long have you been studying them?"

Zaidan smiled. "Would you believe since I was four?"

"Wow," Rocky said. "I didn't start until I was eight."

"I was seven when I started," Tommy said. "Those moves you pulled off were pretty amazing though. Have you ever tried teaching?"

"Once or twice," Zaidan said. "Until recently, though, I tended to move around quite a bit and that made any kind of long-term teaching almost impossible."

"Where are some of the other places you've lived?" Billy asked.

"New York City, Boston, Miami, and St. Louis," Zaidan said. "Spent a few months in Silver Hills before moving to San Francisco and finally here."

"Why so many places?" Aisha asked. "Are you a military brat or something?"

"No, I'm all alone, actually," Zaidan answered. "My mother died when I was thirteen."

"I'm so sorry," Kim said. "What about your father?"

"He died before I was born," Zaidan answered, hoping that nobody would catch that he was actually lying through his teeth. Everything else he'd said was true, but his father, well, he really didn't want to go there and found it easiest to just pretend that he was dead. It wasn't always easy everything considered but Zaidan knew that his mother wouldn't want him to live in the past. If the opportunity presented itself to bring his father to justice, he'd take it, but until then, he was going to do his best to put the bad memories out of his mind.

"You didn't have any relatives that you could live with?" Tommy asked.

"No, none," Zaidan said. "That's actually why I was moving around so much. I didn't want to become a ward of the state, so, I never stayed in one place long enough for anyone who could call child protective services to find out that I didn't have parents. My mom left me with a sizeable inheritance, so, I could afford to take care of myself and I wanted it to stay that way."

"So, you're on the run?" Adam asked.

"No, not anymore," Zaidan replied. "Shortly after moving to Cali, I petitioned a judge for emancipation. Once the judge saw that my parents were dead and I was doing fine on my own, he granted my petition. The only difference between me and most other emancipated teens is that I don't need parental permission for anything. Most other teens in my place would still need it for certain things, like getting married before they turn eighteen. Not that I intend to do that, but I could if I wanted to."

"So you're legally an adult?" Rocky asked.

"Yeah, technically, I am," Zaidan said. "Although I'm still required to go to school. Not that I mind that though, because I've never had a problem with school. Which is a good thing, because having attended seven different high schools, my grades would probably have been abysmal if I wasn't a good student. As it was, I never had much of a problem catching up whenever I changed schools."

"Man, seven different high schools," Tommy said. "Must have been very hard to make friends."

Zaidan nodded and said, "Yeah, it wasn't easy. I think of all the cities I lived in though, New York and San Francisco were the worst, because the vast majority of my classmates had their own little groups and were not interested in trying to befriend the new guy. They just saw me as the outsider who wasn't worth their time."

"Well, maybe it's because they're bigger cities," Adam said, "but, Angel Grove is smaller and more tight-knit."

"Yeah, you seem like a cool guy," Rocky said, as he thought, 'Not to mention totally hot,' as he tried not to be obvious about checking out Zaidan's lean, muscular body, wavy blond hair, or boyish good looks. Rocky didn't usually think of purple as being a guy's color, but it suited Zaidan very well, perhaps because it brought out his eyes, which were violet-colored. 'I've never seen someone with violet eyes before, but, Zaidan certainly pulls it off well,' Rocky thought. 'Of course, I need to control myself, because he's more than likely straight and I don't stand a chance. Still, looking doesn't hurt, as long as I don't get caught.'

'They so have the hots for each other,' Kim thought as she looked at Zaidan and Rocky. 'Damn it. Why do all the cute guys have to be gay?' She still remembered when Tommy Oliver showed up in Angel Grove and how she was immediately smitten with him - the only problem was he preferred men, as evidenced by his now nearly four-month relationship with Adam. 'Still, he's a good friend,' Kim thought of Tommy, 'and I have to admit, him and Adam do make a cute couple.'

"Yeah, you'll find most people here are willing to make a new friend," Aisha said. "As Rocky said, you seem cool and those moves you showed off to Bulk and Skull were amazing. I want to get to know you better if only to learn them."

Zaidan smiled. "Well, I'd be happy to teach them to you," as he thought, 'I'm sure Sensei wouldn't mind. Thanks to dear old dad,' even in his thoughts, the moniker was said with quite a bit of venom and sarcasm, 'I'm the last person alive who is trained in the style he created.'

"Some of those moves didn't look like standard karate," Adam commented.

"Well, that's because some of them weren't," Zaidan said. "My Sensei created his own style which took elements from several other styles and blended them into a completely new one, while also adding in some unique elements all his own."

"What is the style called?" Tommy asked.

"He never did give it a name," Zaidan answered. "It was just his signature style that he created mostly for himself, although he did teach a few others, myself included. Sensei said my elder brother was about a year away from becoming a grand master."

"Elder brother?" Kim asked with a confused look. "I thought you said you didn't have any other family?"

"I don't," Zaidan said. "My brother was in the car with my mother and Sensei coming home from a tournament - none of them survived the accident." Okay, so, that wasn't how they really died, but explaining the truth would have meant revealing quite a bit more than what Zaidan was comfortable with at the present time. He could only hope that if the time did eventually come for him to tell these people the truth, they'd understand why he hadn't been honest. He hated lying, but, sometimes a lie is more believable than the truth and this was most definitely one of those times. 'I want to make friends, after all,' Zaidan thought. 'I tell them the truth and they'll probably think I'm certifiably insane and want nothing to do with me.'

Before anyone could say anything, Tommy's communicator beeped, drawing Zaidan's attention to the strange looking watch on the guy's wrist. This was followed up by the realization that all six of his new acquaintances were wearing an identical watch. 'Doesn't look like any watch I've ever seen, but, what else could it be?'

"I'm sorry to run out on you like this, Zaidan," Tommy said as he and his friends got up, "but we have to go. We have a previous engagement to get to - I set my watch to tell us when it was time to leave."

"No problem," Zaidan said, sensing that there was more to it than what Tommy was saying. Of course, he wasn't being totally honest with them, so, it only made sense that they wouldn't be totally honest with him either. After all, they had just met. It was hardly the time for a heart to heart in which they revealed all of their deepest secrets.

"I'm sorry about your loss," Rocky said, as he squeezed Zaidan's shoulder, glad to have been given an excuse to touch the boy.

Zaidan smiled. "Thanks Rocky, it's not your fault though, so you have nothing to apologize for. It's still hard sometimes, but, I'm getting over it. Anyway, you guys go and do what you have to do. If I'm not here when you get done, well, I'm sure we'll see each other at school tomorrow."

"Cool," Adam said with a smile, as he and the others left. Once they were gone, Zaidan ordered another smoothie, before he pulled his homework back out of his backpack and got to work.

Later that night, as Zaidan stripped out of his clothes and got into bed, he couldn't help but smile. All in all, it had been a good day. While the others hadn't gotten back before Zaidan decided to head home, he was confident that he could become friends with them. They all seemed cool and quite a bit more welcoming than any of his classmates at his previous schools. It seemed a bit odd to be thanking the school bullies for anything, but, in this case, Zaidan couldn't help it. If it hadn't been for his little demonstration to Bulk and Skull, he wasn't sure the others would have noticed him. Well, that probably wasn't true, as Zaidan found out that the juice bar often held tournaments that he most likely would have entered, so, it may have taken longer, but he was glad it had happened sooner rather than later.

-o-0-o-

The next morning, Zaidan woke up and while a part of him scolded himself for doing it, he jacked off to thoughts of Rocky in the shower. The other boy was really the perfect example of what Zaidan considered his dream man - at least outwardly. He didn't really know Rocky well enough to know if the boy's personality also fit his perception of the perfect man. 'Damn it, Z, will you listen to yourself?' he thought as he walked into his bedroom and pulled on a pair of black and gray striped bikini briefs, 'You don't even know if Rocky likes men. If he doesn't that would certainly be a big point against him being your dream man.'

Sitting down on the bed, Zaidan pulled on a pair of black socks, followed by a pair of black jeans, before standing up and walking over to his closet. Scanning the contents of his closet, he thought, 'I really should go shopping and buy some more clothes that aren't purple. It might be my favorite color, but that doesn't mean I have to wear it exclusively.'

Grabbing a white t-shirt from his closet, Zaidan pulled it on and despite his previous thoughts, he then chose a purple button down shirt which he pulled on over the t-shirt, leaving it unbuttoned and rolling up the sleeves. Checking himself out in the mirror to make sure his hair looked okay, Zaidan then headed into the kitchen to have some breakfast. It was then that he noticed the light on the answering machine blinking to signal that someone had called. He didn't get many phone calls, as a general rule, so he didn't often check the machine.

Pressing the play button as he got out a bowl for cereal, Zaidan listened as the machine said, "You have one new message," before a male voice said, "Mr. Prince this is John Taylor from Taylor and Evans in New York. I need to speak to you regarding your late mother's accounts, in person, as soon as possible. Please call my office as soon as you get this message - I'll be in the office until 10, otherwise, I'll be in from 9 to 5 tomorrow."

Taylor and Evans was a trust company in New York where all of his mother's assets were held. They also managed a vault which contained some expensive family heirlooms that she had managed to secret away from his greedy bastard of a father who would have taken them all for himself and left his mother with nothing. Looking at the clock, Zaidan saw that it was only 6:30 in the morning in Angel Grove, but with the four hour time difference, it was 10:30 in New York. Pulling out his wallet, Zaidan took out the business card with John's private line on it and picked up the phone.

It was answered on the third ring. "John Taylor."

"Mr. Taylor, this is Zaidan Prince. I just got your message."

"Ah Mr. Prince, thank you for calling," John said and Zaidan could hear papers shuffling in the background, before John said, "I have in front of me a judge's order saying that you've been emancipated in California, is that correct?"

"Yes, as of three months ago," Zaidan answered.

"You should have contacted me, Mr. Prince," John said. "Since your mother is dead and you're the only heir who is now legally an adult, I need you to come in and sign some papers to transfer some of the accounts into your name. The majority will still be in trust, but a sizeable chunk will now be in your name."

"Well, obviously I have school," Zaidan said. "So, this weekend would be the earliest I could get there."

"We're not normally open for business on Saturdays and Sundays," John said, "however, due to the size of your mother's accounts, I can make an exception."

"Okay, well, can I get back to you later today?" Zaidan asked. "It's only 6:30 in the morning here and I need to eat breakfast and then get to school. I don't really have time right now to make flight and hotel arrangements."

"I can have my secretary make them for you, Mr. Prince," John said. "And then she can call and leave the information on your machine for you."

"That would be great, Mr. Taylor, thanks," Zaidan said.

"Not a problem," John said. "Have a good day at school and I'll see you on Saturday."

"Okay, thanks, Mr. Taylor," Zaidan said as he hung up and resumed making himself a bowl of cereal. Pouring himself a glass of apple juice, Zaidan then sat down at the kitchen table and ate his breakfast.  
'So, my mother's assets are going to be in my name now?' he thought. 'I suppose it's time I have a look in the vault and see exactly what mom managed to save. She never did tell me what exactly was in the vault, just that it would be managed by Taylor and Evans.'

Finishing his breakfast, Zaidan stood and rinsed his dishes before loading them into the dishwasher. Making sure he had everything he needed, he then grabbed his backpack and headed out to the garage. Grabbing his helmet, Zaidan put it on before getting on his motorcycle, a Ducati Monster 900. Within minutes, he was on his way to school. Pulling into the student parking lot, Zaidan parked in a spot next to the fence and chained his cycle to it, which was a precaution he'd started taking ever since it was almost stolen in San Francisco.

Luckily for him, he'd parked on the edge of the student lot that adjoined with the staff lot that day and had arrived at the school at the same time as one of the campus police officers, who was a motorcycle aficionado, resulting in the two of them talking about Zaidan's bike for five minutes. Thus when the officer went on his lunch break and headed out to his car to go and get something to eat, he knew something was wrong when he caught someone who wasn't Zaidan trying to push the motorcycle up a ramp into the back of an unmarked, windowless van. The would-be thief soon found himself headed to jail for attempted robbery and it was later found out that he'd stolen numerous other motorcycles all over town, selling the parts to chop shops in order to support his crystal meth addiction.

Focused on securing his bike, he didn't pay much attention to the Jeep that pulled into the spot next to him, until a familiar voice said, "Hey Zaidan, nice bike."

Looking up, Zaidan smiled as Rocky, Adam, and Tommy climbed out of the Jeep. "Thanks, Rocky."

"Afraid someone's going to steal it?" Adam asked, as Zaidan finished securing his bike.

"It wouldn't be the first time," Zaidan said, before he explained to the three teens how it had almost been stolen in San Francisco. "So, ever since then, I don't take any chances and keep it chained when it's going to be out in the open for a long period. I also had an alarm installed and have special locks on the wheels so that it can only be driven in circles."

Tommy nodded. "Well, I don't blame you for being cautious. That would have sucked to have it stolen from the school parking lot."

"Yeah, good thing that campus officer was around," Rocky said. "We have a couple of security guards here, but, Angel Grove is too small I guess to have uniformed campus police."

"Tommy and I teach a martial arts class at the youth center," Adam said, as the four of them headed towards the building. "We'd love to have you as a guest teacher at our next class, Zaidan."

"I'd love to," Zaidan said with a smile. "When is it?"

"The next class is on Saturday," Tommy answered.

Zaidan's smile fell, as he said, "Oh, well, in that case I can't make it. I have to fly to New York on Saturday to sign some papers at the trust company that manages my mother's assets. If it was any other day, I'd gladly do it."

"That's cool, we understand," Adam said. "We also have a class on Sunday afternoon."

"Well, I might be able to make that one," Zaidan said. "I'm not sure yet. The secretary of my mother's account manager is making my flight and hotel reservations for me and is going to leave a message on my machine at home about the details. With school on Monday, I'm sure I'll be back in time, but I don't want to commit to anything until I know for sure."

Tommy nodded, as he pulled a notebook out of his backpack, along with a pen, and wrote down both his and Adam's phone numbers. Tearing the page out and handing it to Zaidan, he said, "Well, here's Adam's and my numbers. Just call and let us know. The Sunday class is at 2:30pm."

"Okay, will do," Zaidan said.

At this point, Adam and Tommy said their goodbyes and headed over to talk to Billy, while Rocky stayed with Zaidan. After a moment of silence, Rocky asked, "You need a ride to the airport on Saturday?"

"I figured I'd just take my car and store it in the lot for the day," Zaidan answered.

"You have a car, too?" Rocky asked.

Zaidan smiled and nodded. "Yeah, as I said, my mom left me with a sizeable inheritance and the trust company has done a good job in managing it, so, it's grown since she passed away."

"What kind of car?"

"A Jaguar XK8 convertible," Zaidan replied. "I figured, you only live once, if you've got it, spend it."

"Nice," Rocky said. "Aren't you worried about running out of money though?"

"No," Zaidan said. "The majority of my mother's assets are held in a trust that I can't touch until I'm 30. The papers I have to go sign will be putting a sizeable amount of it into my name, but, not all of it."

"So, how much are you actually worth?"

"All told, about 35 million," Zaidan responded. "That's in cash. It might be more, but I don't know. The trust company also manages a vault that my mother stashed some family heirlooms in, but she never told me what was in it, so I have no clue what's in it or what the value might be."

"Wow," Rocky said. "Why are you going to public school if you're so wealthy?"

" I tried attending an exclusive prep school while I lived in Silver Hills," Zaidan said. "Really didn't like it though. For the most part, all the rich kids got on my nerves. While I do have money and I like having nice things, I don't really enjoy bragging about how much money I have which is basically what all my classmates at the prep school wanted to do day in and day out. If the conversation didn't relate to the size of their bank accounts, they weren't interested."

"If you want," Rocky said, "I can drive you to the airport and pick you up. Then you wouldn't have to leave your car in the airport lot over night, as I assume you're going to be there overnight since you mentioned hotel accommodations."

"Well, I usually don't like parking my car outside overnight," Zaidan said. "But I don't want to inconvenience you, Rocky."

"It's fine, Zaidan," Rocky said. "I wouldn't have offered if it was going to inconvenience me too much. I'm not really doing anything this weekend, so, it's not a problem."

"In that case, sure, you can drive me to the airport. Thanks, Rocky, I really appreciate it."

"No problem," Rocky said. Of course, he had ulterior motives. Angel Grove wasn't big enough to have its own international airport, so, that meant the closest one was LAX - which was an hour and a half drive down the coast. Spending that time alone with Zaidan in the car would give them both time to get to know each other better and Rocky was really looking forward to it.

-o-0-o-

After school, Zaidan met up with Tommy, Adam, Billy, Rocky, Kimberly, and Aisha on the way out to the school parking lot.

"So, Zaidan, do you want to join us at the youth center?" Aisha asked.

"I can't," Zaidan answered. "I have to get home, check my answering machine and pack a bag. I need to fly to New York on Saturday to sign some papers at the trust company that manages my mother's accounts. The account manager's secretary is making my flight and hotel reservations, hence checking my machine."

"Oh, okay," Aisha said. "Some other time perhaps."

As they reached the parking lot and Zaidan began unchaining his bike, he looked up and asked, "Hey, why don't you guys come over to my house? It shouldn't take long for me to pack, I'm only going overnight. Then we could enjoy my pool or shoot some hoops."

"That sounds fun," Kimberly said. "I'd just have to go home and get my suit."

The others nodded that they'd all have to do that as well and Zaidan said, "Okay, well, my address is 1987 Ocean View Terrace."

"Ocean View Terrace?" Billy asked. "That's in the affluent section of the city."

"Zaidan here is rich," Rocky said with a grin. "We're talking millionaire - several times over."

"Well, my mother was rich," Zaidan clarified. "The majority of the money is held in trust until I turn 30, but I have enough that I can enjoy a comfortable lifestyle."

"Comfortable?" Adam asked. "I've seen the houses on Ocean View Terrace. Luxurious would be the better term."

Zaidan shrugged and said, "Well, the invitations there if you want. I'd like to get to know you all better and I figure we can do that better at my place. Less crowded. Plus, since I live in a gated community that has a guard on duty twenty-four seven, we don't have to worry about the peanut gallery showing up."

"Peanut gallery?" Tommy asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"Bulk and Skull," Zaidan clarified.

Everyone laughed at that, as Rocky said, "Well, I'm in."

"Sounds like fun," Adam agreed. "Tommy and I will be there."

"We're in," Aisha and Kimberly said in unison.

"Billy?" Zaidan asked.

The blond-haired teen remained silent for a moment, until finally Tommy clapped him on the back and said, "Come on, Billy, it'll be fun. I know you miss Jase, but he wouldn't want you to mope around and have no fun just because he isn't here."

"Jase?" Zaidan asked, unfamiliar with the name.

"Jason Scott," Adam clarified. "He's Billy's boyfriend, but he and two of our other friends, Zack and Trini, left for Geneva, Switzerland three weeks ago. They were chosen to represent Angel Grove at the International Teen Peace Summit."

"Oh, that's cool," Zaidan said. "Come on, Billy. If my pool doesn't sound like fun, then maybe you'd enjoy my computer? It's a state of the art system that I think I can safely guarantee surpasses anything you've ever seen before."

"That does sound intriguing," Billy said. "Okay, count me in."

"Just don't spend all of your time messing around with Zaidan's computer," Adam said. "Go home and get your swimming trunks, because you are going to swim even if I have to push you into the pool."

"I'd suggest you do as he says, Bill," Tommy said. "He'll push you in whether you're wearing your trunks or not, but I think I can safely say you'd prefer to be wearing trunks in the pool."

"Affirmative," Billy said.

"Cool," Zaidan said, as he finished unlocking his bike and putting the chain and wheel locks in his backpack. "I'll just leave your names with the gate guard and he'll let you all in as my guests. See you soon." Pulling on his helmet, Zaidan sat astride his bike and after waving goodbye to his five companions, revved his engine for a moment before backing out of the parking spot he was in and tearing out of the lot.

-o-0-o-

Half-an-hour later, Zaidan had finished packing his overnight bag for his trip to New York. John Taylor's secretary booked him a first-class ticket on a direct flight from LAX to JFK, leaving at 10:30 on Saturday morning and arriving in New York at roughly 3:30 that afternoon. She informed him that a limousine would be waiting to take him to The Waldorf Towers where he'd been booked, much to his complete and utter shock, in the Royal Suite. John was going to come at five o'clock, giving Zaidan roughly an hour to freshen up and rest from his flight, before eating dinner with John in the suite's dining room and then signing the necessary papers.

Once that was done, John would leave and Zaidan was free to do whatever he wanted for the rest of the night. His return flight was scheduled to leave JFK at 8:45 on Sunday morning and arrive at LAX at roughly 1:45 in the afternoon. Given the hour and a half drive between Los Angeles and Angel Grove, Zaidan realized with some disappointment that he was unlikely to arrive back in time to act as guest teacher for Tommy and Adam's class. 'Oh well,' he thought. 'There'll be other classes.'

Heading into the kitchen, Zaidan opened the refrigerator and made sure there was a good selection of cold drinks available, before putting together a couple of simple snacks that he and the others could munch on if they got hungry. He had just finished with his task when the doorbell rang.

"Hey guys," Zaidan said with a smile as he opened the front door to admit Tommy, Adam, Billy, and Rocky. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Humble?" Tommy asked with a raised eyebrow. "Zaidan, there is nothing humble about this place."

"Yeah, you have four garages for pity sake," Adam said as he shook his head.

"True," Zaidan said. The house was a two-story taupe Mediterranean-styled house with white accents. There were two separate two-car attached garages, one on each side of the house, roughly twenty feet from the front door. "I only use one of the bays, though, as my bike and car fit in one. I actually planned on getting something smaller originally, but this was the only property available in this community. I liked the security of a gated community with a guard on duty 24/7, so, I splurged a bit."

"Well, you have amazing taste," Rocky said. "How big is this place?"

"About 6,700 square feet," Zaidan answered. "Five bedrooms and five and a half baths, plus a media/game room upstairs."

"Is that an elevator?" Billy asked, as he noticed what looked like an elevator door near the stairs to the second floor.

"Yeah, it is," Zaidan confirmed. "I don't use it much, but I suppose it'd be nice if one had a particularly tiring day and didn't feel like climbing the stairs. Of course, in the week that I've lived here, I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually gone upstairs. The master suite is on the first floor, along with the study where I setup my computer and there's a TV in both the family room and my bedroom. The house came fully furnished, so, it's not empty upstairs, just unused."

"So, did you get that message you were waiting for?" Adam asked, as Zaidan led the group towards the kitchen.

"Yeah, I did," Zaidan said. "Unfortunately, I won't be getting back to LAX until a quarter to two on Sunday, so, I doubt I'll be able to get back in time for your class."

"That's okay," Tommy said. "We teach two on Saturdays, one on Sunday, and one on Wednesdays after school, so, you'll have other chances."

"Cool," Zaidan said. "So, where are the girls?"

As if that was their cue, the doorbell chose that moment to ring, as Adam said, "At the door, I imagine. I'll get it," before he left the room, only to come back a moment later with Kim and Aisha in tow, both of whom had looks of awe plastered on their faces.

"Damn, Zaidan," Kim said. "I know Rocky said you were a millionaire, but this place is fantastic."

"Thanks," Zaidan said with a smile. "I didn't decorate it though. As I told the guys, the house came fully furnished. I just added a few small personal touches here and there, mainly a few family photographs and, of course, my clothes."

"Considering that you have four garages and what looks like a marble floor in your dining room," Aisha said, "I hope you have good closet space."

Kim nodded and added, "Yes, a person can never have enough closet space. I wish I had more, because my closet is full to bursting."

"I think I have enough," Zaidan said with a grin. "The master bedroom has two walk-in-closets. Plus, three of the other four bedrooms have walk-ins, as well. Of course, the ones in the master suite are the largest."

"And how many of them are you using?" Kim asked, sure Zaidan would probably only say one, because he was a man.

"Both in the master," Zaidan answered. "The smaller of the two is for my shoes, which, I admit it, are my Achilles' heel."

"How many pairs do you have?" Billy asked.

"Last time I counted? Three-hundred and twenty-seven." Zaidan smiled then and added, "Obviously, I need to buy more because I don't have enough for a whole year yet." He did have enough for a year at one time, but that was before his mother died and he moved to New York.

"Three-hundred and twenty-seven?" Tommy repeated, shaking his head. "No way."

Zaidan just grinned. "Shall I prove it? I can take y'all on a quick tour of the house and you can see for yourselves. It's not like the pool is going anywhere. Besides, then you'll know where the bathrooms are, in case you need to use one."

"Seems like a good idea," Rocky said. "Lead on, Zaidan."

-o-0-o-

After giving everyone a tour of the house, everyone split up to change into their swimsuits in privacy. With five bedrooms and five-and-a-half baths, finding privacy was certainly not a problem. Standing in his closet, Zaidan went through the swimsuits he had, finally settling on a baggy pair of purple board shorts. Much like how he tended to wear bikini underwear, Zaidan usually wore Speedos in his pool. However, with Rocky around, not to mention Tommy, Adam, and Billy who were not ugly by any means, he didn't want to be wearing a swimsuit that would make his condition painfully obvious if he got hard. True, he could claim it was from seeing Kim or Aisha in a swimsuit, but, why take any chances?

After all, he didn't know what they all thought on the subject of homosexuality. He knew that Billy was probably okay with it, because when they'd mentioned their friend Jason Scott earlier, Adam had said he was Billy's boyfriend. The others didn't seem to have a problem with that fact, but if there's one thing Zaidan learned over the years it was that looks can be deceiving. Just because something appears to be true, doesn't mean that it is.

'Better to be safe than sorry,' Zaidan thought as he undressed and pulled on the shorts. They were the perfect choice in Zaidan's mind. Not too loose that he'd have to worry about them falling off in the pool, but also not tight enough that a hard on would be immediately noticeable. Once he was changed, Zaidan headed back to the family room and opened the sliding glass door out onto the patio. The realtor had called it a lanai, although honestly, Zaidan didn't really see that it made any difference what he called it, as the two words meant essentially the same thing as far as he was concerned.

Walking over to the linen closet, Zaidan grabbed an armful of towels, before going outside and placing them on one of the tables. He was just turning on the hot tub jets in case anyone wanted to use it, when Tommy, Adam, and Kim came out of the house. Like Zaidan, both Adam and Tommy chose to wear board shorts, in black and white respectively, while Kim was wearing a pink two-piece bikini.

'Hmm, they sure do seem to be attached to these colors,' Zaidan thought, before laughing to himself and thinking, 'You're one to talk, Mr. Wearing Purple Yet Again.'

A moment later, Billy, Aisha, and Rocky emerged from inside the house. Billy's trunks were blue with what looked like white algebraic equations written on them. From everything he'd seen of Billy so far, it didn't really shock Zaidan at all, as it just seemed to fit the blond's personality. Aisha was wearing a one piece bathing suit with a tropical flower design and Zaidan noticed without much surprise that yellow was the dominant color.

At last, however, Zaidan's eyes fell on Rocky and he was immediately glad that he had chosen not to wear his normal bikini-style Speedos, because that is exactly what Rocky had chosen to wear. Being covered only by the small amount of red fabric, Zaidan got his first really good look at Rocky's body. He'd seen his arms well at the Youth Center the day they met and his shirt had been tight enough that he could make out the six-pack underneath. But, seeing it covered by a shirt and seeing it uncovered in all its muscular glory were two entirely different things.

Not wanting to embarrass himself, Zaidan tore his eyes off of Rocky, hoping that he hadn't been too obvious in checking the red-clad man out and turned his attention to everyone.

"Well, towels are over there," Zaidan said as he pointed. "Other than that, make yourselves at home."

Everyone nodded, as Tommy, Adam, and Rocky immediately got into the pool, while Billy and the girls sat down on chaise lounges and began putting on water-proof sunscreen. Since he'd never gotten sunburn in his life, Zaidan didn't bother with sunscreen and decided to join Tommy, Adam, and the hunk of his dreams in the pool. The four teens were soon swimming, splashing each other, and occasionally pushing each other under the water for a couple seconds. Basically, they were all having the time of their lives.

Billy joined them in the pool a few minutes later. There was a time when he completely avoided swimming, due to his problems with ichthyophobia, or fear of fish. However, ever since the fish monster that Rita sent down after learning of his fear, Billy had been getting over it and now enjoyed swimming. Dating Jason certainly helped, because the former red ranger, as an avid scuba diver, was extremely comfortable in the water.

Noticing for the first time that Billy wasn't wearing his glasses, Zaidan smiled as he swam up next to him and said, "Hey Billy. The no glasses look suits you."

"Thanks," Billy said. "I'm wearing contact lenses."

Zaidan nodded. "I kind of figured that. Glasses would be rough in the pool. Would be pretty hard to see through them with all the beads of water on the lenses."

"Affirmative," Billy agreed.

"Maybe later I'll show you my computer as I promised," Zaidan said. "It's a new state-of-the-art model from Dell. It hasn't even been released to the public yet, and won't be for a couple more months."

"Ah, so that's why you guaranteed I'd never seen anything like it," Billy said. "How did you get it though, if it hasn't been released yet?"

"Among my mother's various assets are some shares in Dell," Zaidan said. "So, as a shareholder, getting one before the public release was pretty easy. All in all it's a good system, it certainly suits all of my needs and I think it will do well when it's released."

"Well, I look forward to checking it out," Billy said. He'd never worked on a computer that hadn't been released to the public yet, so, it promised to be an interesting experience.

"Yo guys, heads up," Rocky said, before sending a small wave of water in Billy and Zaidan's direction. It didn't affect Zaidan's already wet hair much, but Billy's previously dry hair was now plastered to his forehead.

"We going to let him get away with that, Billy?" Zaidan asked.

"Negative," Billy said, before he splashed Rocky in the face as Zaidan went underwater, swam over and grabbed Rocky's feet as he pulled him under for a few seconds. If doing this gave Zaidan a chance to ogle Rocky's muscular legs and butt for a few seconds, well, all the better.

Half-an-hour later, Kim and Aisha, who had been sunbathing on a pair of the chaise lounges, moved into the hot tub, and Tommy, Rocky, Billy and Adam got out of the pool and dried off a bit before relaxing at the bar in the covered section of the patio.

Drying his hair and body so he wasn't dripping wet, Zaidan said, "Okay, well, Billy why don't you come inside and I'll show you my computer? I'll also grab some cold drinks for everyone and bring them out."

Billy nodded, as the others thanked Zaidan for the offer of cold drinks. Walking into the kitchen, Zaidan asked, "You want anything, Bill?"

"Water is fine," Billy answered.

Nodding, Zaidan opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of Evian which he tossed to Billy, who caught it without much difficulty. He then led Billy into the study and turned on the computer, allowing Billy to sit down in the chair in front of it. "The password for the guest account is guest, so have fun." Grinning, he added, "You seem knowledgeable enough, so I think I can trust you not to make the thing explode if I leave you alone with it."

Billy laughed. "I promise it won't explode."

"Cool," Zaidan said, before he went back to the kitchen and grabbed a tray from on top of the refrigerator, before opening it and grabbing a couple more bottles of Evian, as well as a couple of bottles of juice and cans of soda. He also placed some of the snacks he'd prepared on the tray in case anyone was hungry before heading back outside.

When he arrived back outside, it was to see a sight that surprised him. Tommy and Adam were sitting at his bar making out with each other. Zaidan could tell from their actions around each other that they were good friends, though he certainly hadn't picked up on the fact that they were more than that. Coming over and placing the tray on the bar, Zaidan cleared his throat and said, "Well, here's the drinks and a few snacks."

Tommy and Adam looked at Zaidan, obviously a bit tense from the looks on their faces, as Tommy asked, "Um, Zaidan, you don't have a problem with Adam and I being a couple, do you?"

Zaidan smiled and said, "Nah, I don't have a problem with it, guys. As long as you're happy, that's all that matters to me." At this Tommy and Adam let out breaths they didn't even realize they'd been holding and Zaidan added, "Besides I'd be a royal hypocrite if I had a problem with it."

"What do you mean?" Adam asked. He had a feeling he knew what Zaidan meant, but he wanted to hear the confirmation.

"I'm gay," Zaidan said. "So, it would be wrong of me to have a problem with you two being together because you're both guys, when I'm a guy and want to be with one myself."

'He's gay!' Rocky thought. 'Oh God, I might actually stand a chance with him. Yes!'

"That's cool," Tommy said. "I'm gay, too."

"I'm bisexual," Adam said. "Although, I do tend to prefer guys."

Zaidan nodded, as Tommy said, "I imagine you already know that Billy is gay, if you heard Adam commenting that our friend Jason was his boyfriend."

"Yeah I heard Adam's comment and I assumed Billy was," Zaidan said.

"We're both straight," Kim and Aisha said in unison, as they joined the boys. They both sat down, as Kim grabbed a bottle of water and Aisha grabbed a bottle of fruit punch.

"Jason is bisexual, too," Adam said. "He says he prefers girls and I'm told he dated Kim here for a couple of months, but, he's been with Billy for a little over a year now."

"Interesting," Zaidan said. "And what about you, Rocky?" as he thought, 'Oh please don't be straight.'

Rocky smiled and said, "I'm gay," and then after a moment's pause, he added, "and single."

Tommy, Adam, Kim, and Aisha all laughed, as Rocky asked, "What?"

Aisha was the first to recover, saying, "Oh Rocky, could you be any more obvious?"

Confused, Rocky asked, "What do you mean?"

Shaking her head, Kim said, "We've all seen you checking Zaidan out when you didn't think anybody was looking, Rocky."

At this Rocky blushed and Zaidan grinned, thinking, 'So, he's gay and interested in me. I think I've officially died and gone to heaven.'

Spluttering, Rocky said, "I wasn't checking him out," but it was obvious to anyone that it was a weak denial, meaning that he was and he was only trying to cover his butt after he realized he'd gotten caught.

Taking pity on Rocky, Zaidan grinned and said, "It's okay if you've been checking me out, you know, Rocky. Seriously I don't mind, cause I've been doing the same to you, actually."

Rocky's head turned to Zaidan so fast that everyone was momentarily afraid he'd get whiplash, as he just stared at the blond for a moment, before he said, "You have?"

"Yeah, I have," Zaidan confirmed. "I think you're probably just about the sexiest guy I've ever seen in my life."

Rocky blushed, as Tommy and Adam looked offended and Tommy asked, "And what are we? Chopped liver?"

Zaidan smiled and shook his head. "No, you guys are sexy, too, but Rocky is more my type." After a moment, he added, "Besides, you two are together, so unless you're into threesomes, it wouldn't work out."

Kim looked at Aisha, groaned and asked, "Why do all the cute guys have to be gay?"

Aisha shook her head. "I don't know, but, girl you got to admit. Tommy and Adam look good together."

"True, they do," Kim agreed, before grinning wickedly at them. "If they ever decide to sell tickets to watch them in bed, I'd buy in a second."

"Oh I'm so with you there, girl," Aisha said with an equally wicked grin, as she gave Kim a high five.

Grinning, Zaidan couldn't help himself as he said, "I'd definitely buy a few of those myself."

"Me too," Rocky said, as he grabbed a can of root beer from the tray and popped the top. "Adam might be my oldest and best friend, but that'd be so hot."

"Hey, hey," Tommy, who was blushing like crazy, said, "nobody is selling tickets to watch me in bed with Adam. That's private," as Adam nodded his head in agreement.

"Oh isn't that cute?" Kim asked in a sweet voice like one would use when looking at a puppy. "They even blush the same color."

"Shut up," Adam and Tommy said in unison, as everyone else laughed.

-o-0-o-

On Saturday morning, Rocky arrived as promised to drive Zaidan to the airport. Following Zaidan into his bedroom, as he made one final sweep to make sure he had everything he needed, Rocky looked around. On the nightstand next to Zaidan's bed was a picture which prompted Rocky to ask, "Who's the hot guy?"

"You mean other than you?" Zaidan asked with a grin.

Rocky blushed and smiled. "Thanks, though I meant the guy in the picture on your nightstand."

"Oh, that's my older brother," Zaidan said, his tone suddenly a bit sad.

Cocking his head to one side, Rocky asked, "You keep a picture of your brother in only his underwear on your nightstand?"

"Yeah, I know that seems weird," Zaidan said. "We were very close though and that's the only picture I have left of him. All the others were destroyed in a fire about a week or so after he died."

"Man, that sucks," Rocky said. "What was his name?"

"Kaidan Callum Prince," Zaidan answered. "Everyone called him Callum or Cal though."

"Huh, your names rhyme," Rocky said.

Zaidan grinned. "Yeah, our mom thought that would be cute. My middle name is Willum, so, it wasn't just our first names that rhymed."

"How old was he?"

"He was 22 when he died," Zaidan replied. "21 when that picture was taken. It was taken shortly after my twelfth birthday. Mom got me a camera and of course I wanted to try it out, so I was going through a photograph everything in sight stage and that ended up including that picture of Callum. I caught him getting ready to take a shower after a practice session with sensei, so that's why he's in his underwear."

"And he wasn't mad at you?" Rocky asked. "I mean it looks like he posed for you, but..." He wasn't sure he could picture a guy being willing to pose for a picture in only his underwear, taken by their twelve-year-old brother.

"Nah, as I said, we were very close," Zaidan said. "We had almost everything in common, including a love for the martial arts. So, we did practically everything together and even dressed like twins most of the time. Mom even once commented that she thought she somehow only had one son in two bodies. She had been worried about our age difference, at first, but as we got older, she realized she had no reason to be."

"I hope talking about him doesn't make you sad," Rocky said, in a concerned tone, knowing that Zaidan might not like talking about his late brother.

"It's okay, Rocky," Zaidan assured. "It's natural you'd be curious and I like talking about him," and here Zaidan couldn't help getting a little teary-eyed, as much as he might not have wanted to, as he added, "I just wish he was still around, ya know?"

"Yeah, I can understand that," Rocky said as he pulled Zaidan into a hug and rubbed his back in a light way that he hoped would be soothing.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter Two

-o-0-o-

Leaving Zaidan's house in Rocky's Jeep, the two young men sat in silence, lost in their own thoughts until shortly after they'd left the Angel Grove city limits and Rocky made his way towards the Pacific Coast Highway for the hour-and-a-half drive south to Los Angeles.

"So I'm more your type, huh?" Rocky asked with a grin, remembering the blond's comment the previous day.

"Yeah, you're exactly my type," Zaidan said with a smile. "Actually, not to give you a swollen head or anything, but outwardly you're my dream man - don't know you well enough yet to know if your personality fits that description or not."

"Swollen heads are more fun, ya know," Rocky joked.

Zaidan laughed. "Yeah, that's true, although I wasn't actually talking about that head."

"I know, but I couldn't resist," Rocky said. "You're welcome to ask me anything you want to know."

"How about we do a question for a question?" Zaidan proposed. "I ask you a question, you answer it and then you can ask me a question and we just go back and forth like that?"

"Seems fair and it'll let us get to know each other better," Rocky agreed.

"Well, we'll start simple," Zaidan said. "I think I already know the answer to this, but what's your favorite color?"

"Definitely red," Rocky answered. "I'm also partial to blue, but I wear red more than anything else."

Zaidan grinned. "So, I'd noticed."

"So same question to you?"

"You probably guessed this already," Zaidan replied. "But, yeah, it's purple. It was actually Callum's favorite color, too. As I mentioned, we used to dress like twins most of the time and as he was older, he picked out the majority of our outfits, so I ended up wearing a lot of purple, and it just sort of stuck after he died and I got older. So, favorite food?"

"Basically anything," Rocky said. Taking his eyes off the road for a split second and seeing the look on Zaidan's face, he added, "It's true. I'll eat pretty much anything. The guys think I'm a bottomless pit and that my stomach is lined with lead, while the girls are jealous that I can eat as much as I do and not gain weight. You?"

"Interesting," Zaidan said. "There are some foods I don't like. I'm not very fond of overly spicy foods, for example. I don't mind some spice, but I draw the line at foods that make me feel like I have a five-alarm fire in my mouth that won't go away even if I drink a few gallons of water. Italian is probably my favorite though, especially pizza - I ate it practically every other day when I lived in New York."

" I like Italian, too," Rocky said, "and you can never go wrong with pizza as far as I'm concerned. So, while we're on the subject, what are your favorite pizza toppings?"

"Canadian bacon, green peppers, black olives, onions, and pineapple," Zaidan answered. "I also tend to love places that put both mozzarella and cheddar on their pizzas by default, though not many do in my experience."

"Hmm, sounds good," Rocky said. "Though I never much understood putting pineapple on a pizza. I've never tried it though, so I guess it could be good."

"It is," Zaidan said. "You should try it sometime."

"Well, perhaps we should go out sometime," Rocky said. "We can have a pizza together."

"Why Mr. DeSantos are you asking me out on a date?" Zaidan asked with a grin and a raised eyebrow.

"What if I said yes?"

"Hmm," Zaidan said, as he tapped his chin and pretended to think. "Well, I suppose I'd probably say yes. You get top marks in the hotness department and you seem nice enough. So, it doesn't seem like it'd be too much of a hardship to go on a date or two with you."

"A date or two, huh?" Rocky asked. "It'll be more than that if I have anything to say about it."

"Well, we'll see, Rocko," Zaidan said with a grin. "So, let's see you know I had a brother. What about you? Any siblings?"

"Oh yeah, several," Rocky said. "I come from a big ol' Catholic family. I have three older sisters, an older brother, two younger sisters, and four younger brothers. And my grandparents on my mom's side live with us, too."

"Damn," Zaidan said. "Talk about a full house. I think I'd go crazy with that many people around."

"Well, yeah, it can be a little annoying sometimes," Rocky said. "The older sibs don't live with us anymore, though, so I'm the eldest child in the house. So, that's kind of fun, actually, because I get to tell the younger ones what to do."

-o-0-o-

Following his meeting with John Taylor, Zaidan couldn't help but be a little bit awed by everything he'd learned. He'd known that his mother had left him an extensive inheritance, but he hadn't quite been prepared for the knowledge of exactly how much. While there were subjects that Zaidan was interested in and good at, math and economics had never been on that list. So, while Mr. Taylor had sent him several detailed financial reports over the years, Zaidan had only given them the briefest of glances, enough to know that he was well-off, before he filed them away and basically forgot about them. Thus, he really hadn't been prepared for the knowledge of exactly what he was worth.

As it turned out, the thirty-five million dollars he had thought was the whole extent of his fortune was actually just the trust vault that he'd been given access to. Now that he'd been emancipated and was legally an adult, he'd gained access to another account which brought his worth up to just over seventy million dollars - and that was just the liquid assets he now had control of. There was still more in the trust, with releases of more due to come on his 21st, 25th, and 30th birthdays. When Zaidan asked about the vault, Mr. Taylor wouldn't tell him what was in it, as per his mother's wishes, only that he'd have to wait until his 25th birthday, as access to the vault was part of that release.

He had learned, however, that in addition to the liquid assets that would be released to him at the intervals dictated by the trust, there was also a block of money that was tied up in real estate, stocks, and bonds. "Tallying everything up, Mr. Prince," John had said, "you're a very wealthy young man. I'd place your net worth in the arena of 420 to 450 million dollars. Of course, that value will fluctuate based on the stock prices and other factors, but my partner and I will do all we can to insure that you lose as little as possible."

"How did I miss numbers like that in those reports?" Zaidan thought to himself. Of course, he came up with the answer fairly quickly. He'd never bothered to read the reports past the first page, which was only an accounting of the trust vault that he had access to. He'd tried once and all he got for it was a splitting headache as all the numbers blurred together, so he never tried again. If he had then maybe he wouldn't have been caught off guard quite as much as he had been. When he'd attended an exclusive boarding school, he'd met plenty of other kids who had seen his perceived thirty-five million dollar net worth as being peanuts, because they were worth five or more times that, but it was still a pretty damn impressive number as far as Zaidan was concerned. He couldn't help but wonder just what some of them would be thinking if they found out that he was actually worth between 420 and 450 million. Probably still wouldn't impress some of them, especially the children of multi-billionaires, but Zaidan honestly couldn't care less about impressing them.

Once Mr. Taylor had left, Zaidan felt the need to clear his head and he wanted to see a few of the sights around New York again, so he grabbed his keys and left his hotel room. While he'd already eaten the meal that the hotel had sent up for his dinner meeting with Mr. Taylor, Zaidan had purposely left room in his stomach for pizza. That was one of the things he'd missed most about New York, so since he was here, he just had to stop in for a slice at his favorite pizza parlor. Turning a corner, Zaidan was lost in his thoughts and didn't see the person walking right at him until they collided with one another and landed on their collective rear ends.

As he stood up, he was just about to apologize profusely when he looked down at the person he'd run into and recognized him. It was one of his classmates from the exclusive boarding school he'd attended while he lived in Silver Hills and one of the few people there that he'd actually considered a friend. Holding out a hand to the young man to help him up, Zaidan asked, "Wes? What are you doing in New York?"

Looking up and recognizing Zaidan, seventeen-year-old Wesley Collins grinned, as he took the hand offered to him and said, "I could ask you the same thing, Zaid," using the shortened version of Zaidan's name he insisted on using.

"Well, I asked first," Zaidan said with a grin, as he pulled his friend to his feet.

"Dad's in town on business," Wes answered. "Pulled me out of school for the weekend and dragged me along because he thinks it'll be a good learning experience for me."

"I take it he's still intent on you taking over Bio-Lab one day?"

"Oh yeah," Wes replied. "That's like his biggest dream that I'll take over his company. He says that's the reason he built his empire, so that he could pass it on to me one day." At this point, Wes scowled and added, in a rather angry tone, "Personally, I think he's just a greedy, power hungry old man who doesn't want me to have any fun."

"Why so upset?"

"I just wanted to go out and explore the city a little," Wes said. "I've never been to New York before, so I wanted to see some of the sights but he won't let me leave. Says this isn't a pleasure trip and I should stay focused. Like I really care about his mind-numbingly boring meetings with Erikson Labs."

"Erikson Labs?" Zaidan asked.

"Yeah, he wants them to be Bio-Lab's newest subsidiary," Wes explained. "He's bought some of the stock, but he doesn't have enough to force the buyout. And the remaining shareholders are proving less cooperative then he'd like. Seems they're not interested in selling their stock or in allowing the company to become a subsidiary of one of their main West Coast competitors."

"That name sounds awfully familiar," Zaidan said. "Come with me back to my room, Wes. I want to check something."

"What?"

"I was just meeting with John Taylor," Zaidan explained, as the two teens headed back to Zaidan's suite. "He manages my trust fund. Had to sign some papers now that I've been emancipated."

"Emancipated?" Wes asked. "You mean you're legally an adult now?"

"Yeah," Zaidan said, as he grinned at his friend and asked, "Cool, huh?"

"Hell yes!" Wes said. "I'd give just about anything to be out from under my father's thumb. Don't get me wrong, I love him and he's given me a lot, but he can be very controlling." After a moment of silence he turned to Zaidan and added, "You ever tell him I said that though, and I will kill you."

Zaidan grinned and said, "Understood."

Arriving at the door to his suite, Wes's eyes practically bugged out as he asked, "Isn't this the Royal Suite?"

"Yeah, it is," Zaidan said.

"Man, Zaid, how do you rate?" Wes asked. "Emancipated and staying in the room that got its name because Queen Elizabeth once stayed in it? Not to mention becoming the New York residence of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor."

"Hey I didn't book this room," Zaidan said, as they entered. "Mr. Taylor's secretary did. Trust me, I was just as shocked when I found out. Anyway, I just need to take a look at these papers that Mr. Taylor left." Grabbing the list that Mr. Taylor had given him that listed his stock holdings, Zaidan ran a finger down the list as he read it quickly, before grinning and turning to his friend. "Aha. I knew that name sounded familiar. Wes, you think if I help your father out in his negotiations, he'd be willing to let us out on the town to have some fun?"

"Maybe, but how are you going to do that?" Wes asked.

"I own 31% of Erikson Labs," Zaidan answered with a grin.

Wes's mouth dropped open and it took a minute for him to speak, before he said, "Dad managed to buy 20%, so that means between your stock and his, you have a majority! Oh man, Zaid, he's sure he stands to make a killing if this deal goes through. It's all I've heard out of him all week. If you help him get it, I'm sure he'll be in a much more agreeable mood. Making money always makes him more agreeable."

"Okay, well, before we take this to him," Zaidan said as he pulled out his cell phone, "I just want to call Mr. Taylor and ask his opinion. Have to make sure your Dad doesn't get all the profit from this deal."

Wes grinned and nodded, as he began looking around the lavishly appointed room, while his friend was on the phone. After a few minutes on the phone, Zaidan said, "Will do," as he closed his phone and said, "Hey Wes, let's go see your father."

"So does that mean Mr. Taylor thinks this'll be profitable for you?" Wes asked.

Nodding, Zaidan said, "Yeah he's optimistic that I can make a good profit."

"Awesome," Wes said. "Well, Dad was headed down to Peacock Alley for dinner," looking down at the jeans and t-shirt he was wearing, he added, "but we'll both have to change clothes before we'd be allowed in."

"Well then I guess it's a good thing I packed some nicer clothes," Zaidan said. "Come on, we're the same size, so you can borrow some of mine for now."

Wes grinned and said, "You just want an excuse to get me naked in your bedroom."

Zaidan laughed and said, "You know I don't ever recall needing to come up with an excuse for that. You always seemed more than willing."

While they'd been in school together, Zaidan and Wes had fooled around a bit. They'd seen each other naked and had several ferocious lip-locking sessions, however, they never went all the way and had sex. Well, intercourse anyway, for there had been several mutual masturbation and frottage sessions.

"What can I say?" Wes asked with a goofy grin. "You're hot."

"You're not so bad yourself," Zaidan said as he slung an arm over Wes' shoulder and led him towards the smaller of the two bedrooms in the suite. The other room was actually the "master" bedroom, but it had been decorated with a more feminine look to it. The bedroom that Zaidan had chosen was more masculine in its appointments and thus was the room that he preferred.

Walking over to the closet, Zaidan grabbed his garment bag and placed it on the bed, as he unzipped it and said, "I really don't know what possessed me to bring two suits for an overnight trip."

"You're in Angel Grove now, right?" Wes asked, as he toed off his sneakers.

"Yeah, I've got a nice house overlooking the ocean," Zaidan said. "Remind me to send you some pictures in my next email."

"Will do," Wes said as he took off the black denim jeans he'd been wearing, leaving him standing there in just a green t-shirt, hunter grey boxer-briefs, and white crew socks.

Looking over at his friend, Zaidan smiled and said, "Lose the socks. Those might work well with sneakers, but not so much with dress shoes."

"True," Wes agreed, before he sat down on the bed and pulled his socks off, before putting on the black dress socks that Zaidan tossed over to him. Once he'd put them on, he looked over at his friend, who had now stripped down to his underwear, and whistled before he said, "Damn, Zaid, you've been working out haven't you?"

"Yeah, a bit," Zaidan said. "My new house has a pool, so I go swimming practically every day. It's in a gated community, so there's also a clubhouse for all the residents with a fully equipped gym that I've been making good use of. Plus running through a few katas. I've been hanging out with a group of my classmates from school and they're all really into the martial arts. Two of them even teach classes at the youth center, so, figured I should try and stay in top form, just so I can keep up with them."

Wes nodded and giving his friend a significant look, he asked, "Do they know?"

Seeing the look on Wes' face, Zaidan didn't need him to elaborate any further. "No, they don't."

"You going to tell them?" Wes asked.

Zaidan shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know yet. I've only really known them for a couple of days. Didn't really seem like the time for heart to hearts, ya know?"

"Yeah, I can understand that," Wes answered. "Lord knows I was shocked when you told me."

"I can't say as I blame you," Zaidan said. "It's not every day a person learns something like that about one of their friends. Honestly, as much as I trusted you, I don't think I would've told you at all if we hadn't been fooling around. You're the only person I've ever let see me without any clothes on."

Wes grinned at that. "So, I'm the only one whose seen that hot body of yours in all its glory, huh? Cool."

"Yeah, Wes, you are," Zaidan said. Blushing slightly, he added, "Kind of had to tell you the truth though or I can only imagine what you would have thought."

"It was definitely different," Wes agreed. "Though not in a bad way." Putting on a green silk shirt that matched the deep purple one that his friend was putting on, Wes asked, "So, these new friends of yours, anyone cute?"

"Well, I do have my eye on one of them," Zaidan said. "He's just about the hottest guy I've ever met. His name is Rocky DeSantos."

"Hispanic?" Wes asked.

"No, Castilian," Zaidan said. "His family is from somewhere in Spain."

"Cool," Wes said, as he grabbed the pants of the suit that Zaidan had set aside for him to wear. "This brings back memories."

"What us sharing clothes?" Zaidan asked with a grin.

"Yeah, lord knows we did it enough when we in school together," Wes said. "You know half our classmates thought we were a couple?"

"Well, I suppose they weren't too far off base," Zaidan said, as he finished buckling his belt. "We were practically inseparable and were fooling around quite a bit."

"That's true," Wes conceded, "although I never really thought of you as boyfriend material. You're a great guy and I love spending time with you, but..."

"No, I understand," Zaidan said as he walked over to the mirror and began tying his tie. "We're probably much better off as friends anyway. I think if we were a couple, we'd probably get on each other's nerves too much. Besides, I always thought you kind of had a thing for Eric."

"You mean Eric Meyers?" Wes asked, as Zaidan nodded. "Well, yeah, I guess he's cute, but he's also got a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas."

"You're going to let a little thing like that stop you?" Zaidan teased. "Doesn't sound like the Wes Collins I know."

"There's not much I can do, Zaid. He left school shortly after you did, I think his scholarship ran out or something," Wes said as he finished with his tie and pulled on the suit coat. "I haven't seen him since he told me he was leaving and let me tell you, he wasn't all that nice about it. Anyway, let's get down to the restaurant and shock my dad."

"Sounds good to me," Zaidan said with a grin as they left the room.

-o-0-o-

A few minutes later, Wes and Zaidan walked into Peacock Alley, as the maître d' asked, "Do you gentleman have a reservation?"

"We're meeting someone," Wes said. "My father, Alan Collins?"

"Ah yes, he mentioned his son might be joining him. This way, please."

A moment later, they'd arrived at the table that Mr. Collins was sitting at. He was currently talking on his mobile phone, clearly not all that happy with whomever he was speaking to. "I don't care, I want that report in my hands first thing in the morning!" Not giving the person a chance to respond, Mr. Collins disconnected the call. It was while he was putting his phone away that he spotted his son and Zaidan.

"Ah, Wes, you decided to join me, I see," Mr. Collins said, as he then looked over at Zaidan and asked, "Do I know you?"

Holding out his hand to Mr. Collins, Zaidan said, "Zaidan Prince, sir. I'm an old classmate of Wes's and your new best friend."

"My new best friend?" Mr. Collins asked, as he raised an eyebrow and pointedly ignored Zaidan's outstretched hand. "How do you figure that, Mr. Prince?"

Wes and Zaidan sat down at the table at this point and Zaidan smiled, as he said, "Well, Wes tells me that you're in town to get your hands on Erikson Labs. I just so happen to be a major shareholder."

"Shareholder?" Mr. Collins asked. "You're a teenager."

"True," Zaidan said. "I'm seventeen, although I've been legally emancipated. Anyway, the stock in question was bought by my late mother and is now a part of my trust fund."

"Just how much stock are we talking about?" Mr. Collins asked.

Grinning, Wes said, "Oh not much, really, just 31%."

Eyes widening, Mr. Collins asked, "Did you say 31%?" He'd known that between them the shareholders blocking Bio-Lab from taking over only owned 49% of the shares. With the 20% that Bio-Lab owned, that did leave 31% of the company's stock unaccounted for, although that was a detail that Mr. Collins had never shared with his son. He'd tried to track down the owner or owners of the stock in question, but had little success in doing so. Now, however, it seemed as though the owner had found him.

Zaidan nodded and said, "Indeed. I was in town to meet with my trust manager to sign some papers now that I've been emancipated and ran into Wes here," at this Wes mumbled, "literally," under his breath. "Anyway, I asked why he was in town, so he told me. I knew that name sounded familiar, so I checked and I own 31% of Erikson Labs. Now, I already checked with my trust manager - I can't sell you the stock, because it's part of the release scheduled for my 30th birthday. My mother made sure that the terms were ironclad, so, there's no way I can access it to sell them until then, but Mr. Taylor says that I can still vote the shares."

"Between Bio-Lab's 20% stake and Zaidan's 31%," Wes said, "unless my math is failing me, that's 51%. So, Dad, considering that I've basically just handed you Erikson Labs with a nice big ribbon on it, can I go out and see some of the sights now? Please?"

"I'm going to need proof of these claims," Mr. Collins said.

Pulling a business card out of the inner pocket of his suit jacket, Zaidan handed it to Mr. Collins and said, "That's my trust manager's card. Go ahead, call him - he's expecting your call. He'll confirm what Wes and I have said."

Looking at the card, Mr. Collins nodded, as he pulled out his mobile phone. He did recognize Taylor & Evans, it was a well-known and respected trust management firm. He hadn't used them for his son's trust fund, but that was only because he wanted someone closer to home as Taylor & Evans was based in New York. After a brief conversation with John Taylor, in which his son's and his friend's claims were confirmed, Mr. Collins hung up and said, "Well, I suppose you can go out and see a few of the sights if you wish. Just try not to get lost."

Smiling, Zaidan said, "That won't be a problem, Mr. Collins. I'll go with Wes - I lived here for about 7 1/2 months, so I know my way around the city pretty well."

Mr. Collins nodded and asked, "Thank you, Mr. Prince. I appreciate your help in this matter. There's a shareholder's meeting scheduled for Monday at 2pm at the Erikson offices."

"Well, that poses a problem," Zaidan said. "I have school on Monday and I live in California. This was only an overnight trip - I'm booked on a flight to LAX that leaves tomorrow morning at 8:45."

"What about Mr. Taylor?" Wes asked. "He is the trustee of your trust, Zaid." Casting a questioning gaze at his father, he asked, "He could attend the meeting and vote on Zaidan's behalf, right?"

"Yes, that would work," Mr. Collins said.

Reaching into his pocket and pulling out his own mobile phone, Zaidan said, "Well, I'll just call him and check. No idea what his schedule is like on Monday."

Mr. Collins nodded and waited as Zaidan talked with John. After a few moments, Zaidan hung up and said, "Okay, well, Mr. Taylor can't make it. He's got meetings all afternoon that he can't cancel. However, his partner's schedule is free, so he's going to make arrangements for Mr. Evans to attend the meeting and vote on my behalf."

Nodding, Mr. Collins looked at his watch and said, "Well, it's almost five now, so I guess if you boys want to go out and see a few of the sights, you can go now. Just try and be back before ten."

"Thanks, Dad," Wes said with a smile, as both he and Zaidan stood and left the restaurant. Going back upstairs to Zaidan's suite, they both changed back into the more casual clothes they'd been wearing when they'd run into one another, before heading out to see as many of the sights as they could fit into the time they had. The first stop being Zaidan's favorite pizza parlor for a slice of New York pizza.

-o-0-o-

Arriving back at LAX the next morning, Zaidan found Tommy waiting for him.

"Tommy?" Zaidan asked. "Wasn't expecting you to pick me up. Don't you have a class to teach at the youth center in about half-an-hour?"

Tommy smiled. "Rocko sends his apologies, but he had a church function with his family this afternoon. He tried to get out of it, but his parents wouldn't let him. As for the class, it was cancelled. Youth center had a power failure, along with half the city, so Ernie didn't know when he'd be able to get the lights back on. Had it been our older students, we might have moved to the park, but this was our younger group who are just learning. So, we didn't want to have the class without mats."

Zaidan nodded. "Can understand that. Just have to get my bag and we can get out of here."

"Cool," Tommy said as the two headed for the baggage claim. "So, everything go okay in New York?"

"Well, once I got over the initial shock it was great," Zaidan answered.

"Shock?" Tommy asked, as they arrived at the baggage claim and waited for Zaidan's bag to show up.

"Turns out I'm worth a lot more money than I thought," Zaidan said. "I never read past the first page of the statements that my trust manager sent me, so I thought the amount that was in the trust account that I had access to was the whole extent of my assets."

Tommy laughed. "Sounds like something I'd do, honestly. I've never had much of a head for numbers. So, how much are you actually worth anyway, if you don't mind my asking? Rocko said you were a millionaire several times over, but we never did get a number out of him."

"I had thought about 35 million," Zaidan answered. "Turns out though that between stocks, real estate, and more liquid assets which are scheduled to be released to me at specific ages, I'm actually worth over 400 million."

"Damn," Tommy said after a moment. "That's a lot of money. You said it was your mothers?" Zaidan nodded. "What did she do to have that kind of money?"

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you,' Zaidan thought, as he said, "Old family money... my family owned a lot of real estate." Okay, that wasn't even a lie, as his family did own a lot of real estate, they just didn't make any money off of their properties.

"So, other than that shock," Tommy asked, "did you do anything fun?"

Zaidan nodded as he spotted his bag and grabbed it. "Yeah. I literally ran into an old classmate of mine from the prep school I attended in Silver Hills. He was there with his dad on business. We went out for pizza and saw some of the sights. It was fun."

"Cool," Tommy said as they headed towards the parking lot. "So is this friend of yours rich too?"

"Yeah, way richer than I am," Zaidan said. "His name's Wesley Collins. His dad is a multi-billionaire CEO. I didn't really get along with most of my classmates at that school, because all they ever wanted to do was brag about how much money they had and try to make those who had less feel inferior, but Wes was different. We clicked and have stayed in contact ever since. I have to remember to send him some pictures of my house, because he wanted to see them."

"Well, I hope you didn't find it offensive when I asked," Tommy said. "We've all just been curious since Rocky made that comment. Not that we care one way or the other. You seem like a really cool guy and I still want to learn those moves you showed off at the youth center. Those were so cool."

"No problem," Zaidan said with a grin. "I taught Wes, so, I don't see why I couldn't teach you and the others as well."

"So Wes is into the martial arts, too?" Tommy asked, as they arrived at his jeep and got in as Zaidan tossed his bag into the back.

"Not so much until we met," Zaidan answered. "His father is grooming him to take over his company someday and for the longest time didn't allow him to do any sports-related activities because he felt they wouldn't teach him any skills necessary in a corporate setting. So, instead he was bored out of his mind as a member of the debate club, chess club, and an accounting club."

"Accounting club?" Tommy asked as he started up his car. "You have got to be kidding me."

"Nope, I'm not," Zaidan said. "Ever see the movie Richie Rich with Macaulay Culkin?" Tommy nodded. "Well, the prep school had an extensive business department, where the classrooms looked pretty much exactly like Richie's classroom in the movie. School has lots of rich alumni in the corporate world, so the business department is basically a rival of any major university's business program only on the high school level. Thus, they offer several activities meant to train future corporate CEOs in skills they'll need, like marketing, accounting and golf."

"That's crazy," Tommy said, as they left LAX.

"Yeah, it is," Zaidan agreed. "Anyway, eventually Mr. Collins let up and let Wes join a few activities he wanted to join. One of them was a martial arts class, which is where we met. He was pretty much my only friend at that school because he didn't enjoy bragging about his father or his bank account. Anyway, we practiced in our off hours quite a bit because the class itself was worthless."

"In what way?"

"It was full of spoiled rich kids," Zaidan replied. "They'd had everything they've ever owned handed to them on a silver platter without having to do anything. More than one of them made it clear that they expected to just be given their belts without actually mastering the skills necessary to earn them. And don't even get me started on the ones who would threaten to sue you for everything you're worth if you so much as tapped them during practice."

"Wow," Tommy said. He really didn't know what else to say to that. "How long did you stay at that place?"

"I stuck it out for about six months," Zaidan said. "Probably wouldn't have stayed much past a month if it hadn't been for Wes. Our friendship made it bearable."

Grinning at him as they stopped at a stop light, Tommy asked, "So, were you and Wes just friends or something more?"

"Mostly just friends," Zaidan said. "We did fool around a bit though. Mostly just some heavy make out sessions though. We realized pretty quickly that we were better as friends, so we never went all the way, even if our raging hormones were wishing we had."

-o-0-o-

Pulling into Zaidan's driveway, Zaidan got out of the car and grabbed his bag. "You want to come in for a drink or something?"

Smiling, Tommy turned off the jeep and said, "Sure, thanks."

Heading up to the front door, Zaidan pulled out his keys and unlocked the door, letting his friend enter first, before entering himself. "Help yourself to anything in the fridge. I'm just going to drop my bag in my room."

Tommy nodded and headed towards the kitchen, still somewhat in awe of the house. He'd seen it before, obviously, but he still couldn't believe that one of his classmates lived in a place like this, not to mention the fact that Zaidan lived alone and owned the house. Opening the fridge, Tommy scanned the available drinks before grabbing a can of Sprite and sitting on one of the stools at the island. Zaidan showed up a minute later and grabbed another Sprite, noticing again that his answering machine was blinking. Hitting the play button, the automated voice said, "You have two new messages."

"Saturday, 8:30 PM," the automated voice said, before Rocky's voice said, "Hey Zaidan, it's Rocky. By the time you get this, you'll probably already know but I have a church function with the family on Sunday afternoon, so I can't come pick you up. I really tried to get out of it, but my parents wouldn't hear of it. I'll try to get someone else to meet you at LAX. Sorry - hope everything went okay in New York. See you Monday."

"Sunday, 9:42 AM," the machine said, before a female voice said, "Mr. Prince, this is Maggie Carlson - I sold you your house. You mentioned that you might want to hire a live-in housekeeper. I think I've found someone who would work, if you're willing to meet with him. Call me and let me know. My cell is 958-555-0128."

"A housekeeper, huh?" Tommy asked as he took a sip of his drink.

"Yeah, this place is pretty big," Zaidan said. "Figured having someone around to help with the housework would be good."

"Makes sense," Tommy said. "If you want to return that call, go ahead. I don't mind."

"Thanks," Zaidan said, as he grabbed the phone and dialed. The phone was answered on the second ring. "This is Maggie."

"Hey Ms. Carlson, it's Zaidan Prince."

"Ah Mr. Prince, I was wondering if I'd hear from you today. Sleeping in where you?"

"I wish," Zaidan said. "Just got back from LAX actually. Was in New York on business."

"Ah, I see," Maggie said. "I talked with the staffing agency and found out you weren't having the best of luck in finding a housekeeper. I apologize for that. The agency I've normally worked with in the past closed upon the owner's retirement and this new agency doesn't seem to be working out. Anyway, I wanted to find you someone who could do the job and I think I may have found a good candidate."

"I take it from your message it's a man?" Zaidan asked. 

"Yes, it's my son, Gregory Carlson. Until recently, he was working as a housekeeper at a hotel in town, but both it and his apartment building were destroyed in a monster attack a month ago. So, he's been living in my basement and trying to find a new job."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Zaidan said. He'd heard the rumors about Angel Grove often being the target of monsters sent down by one Rita Repulsa, but he hadn't really believed it until he actually moved to the city and saw one of the attacks on the news. "I'd like to know a bit more about him. I'm assuming he's gay-friendly, because as you know I'm gay, so that's non-negotiable."

"Considering that he's gay himself," Maggie said, "I don't think there'll be any problems there, Mr. Prince. Anyway, he's twenty-six years old. He refused to accept the money his father and I set aside for his college education, telling us to save it for our retirement. He wanted to pay his own way, which he did, graduating with a degree in hotel management. He's been trying to secure a new position, but with the monster attacks, jobs are scarce, because any openings are filled almost immediately by people who lost their job to one of the attacks."

"Sounds like he's responsible and a hard worker," Zaidan commented.

"Oh he is that and I'm not just saying that because he's my son," Maggie said. "The only potential wrinkle is that he does have a live-in boyfriend. When I mentioned your need for a live-in housekeeper, he expressed interest in the position, but only if Michael could live with him. I know you weren't planning on hiring a couple, but I think Michael could also help you."

"How's that?" Zaidan asked.

"His father owns a successful landscaping business," Maggie replied. "And his mother is the head horticulturist at the Angel Grove Botanical Gardens, so he's well-versed in landscaping and plants and should have no problem handling all of the outdoor work of your property while Gregory handles the indoor work."

'Well, that would save me from having to find a landscaper,' Zaidan thought. 'They both sound like they'd be good fits.' Making up his mind, he said, "Well, I guess it can't hurt to meet them. I'm free for the rest of the day if they can come over, otherwise, anytime after 4 tomorrow."

"I don't know what they're up to this afternoon," Maggie said, "but if you don't mind me giving my son your number, I can have him call you himself."

"That's fine," Zaidan said. "Thank you, Ms. Carlson."

"You're welcome, Mr. Prince," Maggie responded. "I'll see to it that my son calls you as soon as possible to set up a meeting with you."

"Okay, thanks for calling, Ms. Carlson. I appreciate it," Zaidan said, exchanging goodbyes before hanging up.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Well, Ms. Carlson is going to have him call me," Zaidan said. "Apparently it's her son that she's recommending. Both his home and place of employment were destroyed in one of the monster attacks a month ago. He worked in housekeeping at a hotel, however, and he has a boyfriend who's skilled in landscaping."

"Sounds like they might work well," Tommy said, as he finished his drink and stood. "Well, Z, thanks for the drink, but I should get going. I have a date with Adam tonight, so I should get ready."

Smiling, Zaidan said, "Well, don't let me keep you from your stud. Get going, Tommy."

"See you tomorrow at school," Tommy said as he shook hands with the blond, who walked him to the door.

Once Tommy was gone, Zaidan headed into the study and powered up his computer in order to check his email. He'd just finished deleting the spam and was typing an email to Wes when the phone rang.

Reaching over, Zaidan picked up the receiver and said, "Zaidan Prince."

"Hi, this Greg Carlson," a male voice said.

"Ah you must be Maggie Carlson's son," Zaidan said.

"That's me," Greg said.

"As I told your mom, I wasn't planning on hiring a couple, but I'm willing to meet with you and your boyfriend, at least. I'm free all this afternoon, otherwise it would have to be after 4 PM during the week, as I'll be in school."

"Are you going to AGU?" Greg asked. His mother hadn't told him a whole lot about Zaidan, only that he was young, had recently bought a house from her, and that he was in the market for a gay-friendly live in housekeeper. Being a borderline neat freak who had until recently had a housekeeping job, Greg had no problems with staying in that industry. Being a live-in position would also allow him to move out of his parents' house, having been forced to move back in with them after his apartment building had been destroyed when one of Rita's supersized monsters fell on top of it during its battle with the rangers.

"No, I'm a junior at AG High," Zaidan answered. "I'm a 17-year-old emancipated minor."

"Ah, okay," Greg answered. He hadn't really expected his potential employer to be only 17, but it wasn't really a problem for him. "Well, Mike and I can be over in about twenty minutes if that works for you."

"Yeah, that's fine," Zaidan said. "I'll be here. I look forward to meeting you."

"Same here," Greg responded, before the call was ended. Zaidan called down to the gate guard to tell him that he was expecting a Greg Carlson, before he resumed typing his email to Wes, making sure to attach some pictures of his new house. He also mentioned his potential new domestic help in a postscript. Finishing up, Zaidan clicked send seconds before the doorbell rang. Standing up and heading into the entryway, Zaidan answered the door to find two good-looking young men standing on his front porch. One was about 6'1" with black hair, brown eyes, and faint black stubble on his face. Zaidan assumed he was Greg Carlson, because he could see a resemblance to Maggie Carlson. The other man was also about 6'1" with dark brown hair and grey eyes.

Inviting them inside, Zaidan said, "Zaidan Prince, nice to meet you."

"Gregory Carlson," the black haired man said. "But I prefer Greg."

"Michael Landers," the other man said. "It's just Mike though - Michael is my father."

Nodding, Zaidan said, "Well, why don't we adjourn to the family room and we can chat a bit."

Both of them nodded and followed Zaidan into the family room. Motioning towards the sofa, Zaidan sad down in a chair across from it.

"This is a very nice house," Greg commented.

"Thank you," Zaidan said. "I'm quite pleased with it, although it is rather big for only one person. Your mother is a good saleswoman though and I fell in love with this place the moment I saw it."

"I can see why," Mike said with a smile.

"Now, I wasn't planning on hiring a couple," Zaidan said. "However, I am willing to do so, as I'd figured I'd have to hire a landscaper to deal with the yard work anyway. Greg's mother did mention your background in the field, Mike, although she didn't specifically say that you were looking for a job."

"I wouldn't say no to one," Mike said. "I'm currently working full-time for my father's landscaping company, but I wouldn't say no to some extra income on the side."

Nodding, Zaidan said, "Alright, well, as the live-in housekeeper, Greg, your job would be to load and unload the dishwasher, vacuum, dust, clean the windows, sweep and mop the floors, clean the bathrooms, make the beds, and change the linens on them at least once a week. I may also need you to run errands occasionally, such as grocery shopping or picking up dry cleaning."

"I can do all of that," Greg said. "It's not that much different from what I did at the hotel. I also minored in the culinary arts in college, so I'm a decent cook, if you need me to do any cooking."

"I usually do that myself," Zaidan said. "Although, there are days when I'm too tired to do it, so I wouldn't say no to having you prepare a meal. While we're on that subject, I should say that I am lethally allergic to peanuts, tree nuts, and shellfish. So, as a rule, I don't keep any of those items in the house so that I can't accidentally consume them. I've had one major bout of anaphylactic shock in my life that almost killed me. Obviously it's an experience I do not wish to repeat."

With a nod, Mike said, "Well I can certainly understand that. One of the things Greg and I have in common is that neither of us ever particularly cared for eating nuts of any kind. In fact, when I was still in school, I used to say that I was allergic to them, even though I'm not, to get classmates and teachers to stop asking me why I never ate the desserts with nuts in them that the cafeteria served from time to time. So I don't think either of us will have a problem going without them. As for shellfish, while we do both eat it from time to time, it's always been in a restaurant, so we wouldn't be bringing it into the house."

"That works for me," Zaidan said. "Now, I know Greg is old enough to drink and I'm assuming you are as well, Mike. I'm not, however, nor are any of my friends from school that might be coming over from time to time. To that end, I would ask that you not place any alcoholic beverages in the kitchen refrigerator. However, there is a wet bar with a mini-fridge in the bedroom you'd be using. You can stock whatever you wish in it, as my friends and I will stay out of the room. I would, however, prefer that neither of you walk around the house drunk on a regular basis."

"That won't be a problem," Greg said. "Mike and I are not heavy drinkers. We do drink socially, never more than one or two drinks a night, however. And none if we have to drive. Before our apartment was destroyed, we did keep beer and wine on hand to drink with meals from time to time, but we can easily keep it in the fridge in our room and not drink it in front of you or your friends."

"That'll work," Zaidan said. "Mike, your job would be to maintain the yard in compliance with the homeowner's association's regulations. They require that the lawn be cut once a week, although a grace period is given in the event of a particularly rainy week that would leave the grass too wet to be cut. There's a compost bin for the grass clippings and other yard waste on the side of the house. You'd also need to remove any weeds, keep the hedges trimmed, and keep the other plants looking their best."

"I can do all of that," Mike said.

"Well, you two are certainly the best candidates I've interviewed so far," Zaidan said. "First woman didn't understand what I meant by gay-friendly and proceeded to quote Bible verses and tell me I'd roast in hell once she realized I was homosexual and the second one proceeded to tell me all the things she wasn't willing to do - which included everything that I'd expect a housekeeper to do. I haven't interviewed any landscapers yet, as I figured once I hired a housekeeper, I'd ask their opinion, figuring that they had probably lived here in Angel Grove longer than I have and might know a good one. I'm guessing, Greg, that you would suggest I hire Mike?"

Greg grinned. "What this lay about? Nah, you can do so much better."

Mike growled as he playfully hit Greg upside the head, as he looked at Zaidan and said, "He's kidding."

Zaidan laughed. "Yeah, I kind of guessed that. Anyway, how about I give you both a three month trial in the positions and if at the end of three months, I'm pleased with your performance, the jobs will be yours on a permanent basis. Does that sound fair?"

"Sounds good to me," Mike said, as Greg nodded.

"Alright then, well, let's see here," Zaidan said. "We've covered what your duties will be, I imagine you want to know what your compensation will be. First and foremost, you'll have the room here in the house. As I said it has a wet bar with a mini-fridge, in addition to a coffee pot. There's also a walk-in closet and a bathroom. Technically the bathroom is the pool bath, so there's a door that leads outside, but it can remain locked and I can tell guests to use the half-bath off the kitchen. Now, I noticed the truck in the driveway - do both of you have vehicles?"

"The truck is mine," Mike revealed. "Greg doesn't have a car, but we both have motorcycles."

"We also have a tandem bike," Greg added. "My parents are avid cyclists and have been riding their own tandem for years now. They think every couple should have one, so they bought Mike and I one for our anniversary a couple of years ago."

Nodding, Zaidan said, "Okay. I asked because as I'm sure you noticed I have four garage bays. I only use one of them myself. They're large enough that your truck, motorcycles and bike should all fit in one of them, so, you'll also have a space in the garage to keep your vehicles out of the weather."

Greg and Mike nodded and Zaidan continued, "Now, the room you'll be using has its own satellite TV receiver, an unlimited cable internet connection, and it's own phone line. Your compensation will include all utilities, with the exceptions of the phone line in your room, as you'll be the only ones using it, and any pay-per-view programs you buy."

"Fair enough," Greg said.

"Now, as for time off," Zaidan said, "Greg, you'll have one full day a week off, plus two half days, where you can choose whether to work in the morning or evening, with the rest of the day off. As for you, Mike, your schedule will be flexible, to fit with the needs of your job at your father's company. As for salary, Greg, I was thinking $500 a week and for you Mike, whatever your father charges for the weekly upkeep of a one acre lot plus a $100."

"That's very generous," Mike said, as Greg nodded.

"I'm a generous person," Zaidan said. "As I'm sure you must have guessed, as I bought this house and live here alone, I'm quite wealthy. Not as wealthy as an old friend of mine from Silver Hills, but wealthy enough that you needn't worry about me being able to pay you. Now, if you'll follow me, I'll show you to the room you'll be using."

Once he'd shown Greg and Mike to their room, Zaidan headed into town to visit a locksmith and have copies of the house key made for Greg and Mike, while they headed for Greg's parents house to get their belongings. Zaidan also made sure to inform the gate guard that Greg Carlson and Mike Landers were now live-in staff at his home and were to be allowed in at all times.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Questions, comments, suggestions? Feel free to contact me, I love hearing from my readers.
> 
> Next chapter: Tommy and Adam's date, Jason and Billy "conversing" on the phone, and Rita notices the rangers' new friend.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter Three

-o-0-o-

Leaving Zaidan's house, Tommy drove home and made a beeline for his bedroom. Stripping off his clothes, he headed into his ensuite bathroom for a shower. Adjusting the water temperature until it was just right, he stepped in and just stood under the spray for a moment, before grabbing a wash cloth and the soap and beginning to wash his body. Once that was taken care of, he grabbed the shampoo and began to wash his hair, which he was seriously considering getting cut. A bit of teenage rebellion was the reason he'd let it grow out in the first place. His father was in the army, so he spent his childhood before they moved to Angel Grove moving from base to base and when his mother took him to the barber, he'd usually always ended up with a buzz cut.

Once he turned thirteen, however, his mom decided to give him more freedom to dress and groom himself however he wanted. One of the first things he did was to let his hair grow out, so that it was shoulder length by the time his father was promoted to Captain and stationed in Angel Grove on a permanent enough basis that they chose to buy a house in town, rather than live on the base. A part of him did kind of like the long hair, but as time passed, it was also becoming more of a nuisance because even when he tied it back, it had a tendency to whip around his head and get into his face while he was practicing certain martial arts moves. He'd also pulled a few strands out while taking off his ranger helmet recently, as they'd gotten caught in one the clasps, which had obviously hurt.

Rinsing the shampoo from his hair, Tommy stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel and began drying off. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, he blow dried his hair, looking at it and running his fingers through it as he did so. **_'Yeah, definitely time to cut it,'_** he thought. Spying a scissors lying on the bathroom counter, he was half-tempted to take it and have at it. The only thing that stopped him from that was his complete lack of faith in his ability to cut his own hair and still have it look good. He did have a date with Adam tonight, after all, so he didn't want his hair to look like it was cut by a rank amateur. So, instead, he brushed it and tied it back, deciding to go to the barber after school tomorrow.

Going back out to his bedroom, he walked over to his dresser and grabbed underwear and socks, which he sat down on his bed to put on, before pulling on a nice pair of khaki pants and a white shirt. Once he was fully dressed, Tommy paused to put on a small dash of cologne, before leaving the room and going downstairs, where he found his mother sitting in the living room reading the newspaper. Looking her son over, Amelia Oliver smiled and said, "You look nice, son. Although, your hair is getting a bit too long."

Tommy nodded. "I know, Mom. I'm gonna get it cut, soon, but not tonight. I have a date."

Amelia smiled and said, "Oh, a date with that nice boy?" Raising an eyebrow, she asked, "What's his name again?"

Tommy grinned. He knew his mother remembered Adam's name, because her memory was like a steel trap. Once something went in it, it usually didn't leave. Being adopted, he obviously hadn't inherited anything from Amelia Oliver, but he certainly wished that her good memory would rub off on him, because than maybe he wouldn't be the butt off so many of his friend's jokes. Bad memory or not, however, that didn't mean he was totally oblivious and he knew his mom well enough to know that her asking his boyfriend's name was her way of telling him that she thought it was time he brought him over for a visit again. "It's Adam, but I know you knew that, Mom."

"You know me too well, Tommy," Amelia said with a smile. "Seriously, though you really need to bring him over here again sometime. I'll have your father throw some steaks on the grill and I'll make my triple chocolate mousse cake that you like so much. But only if you bring that cutey of yours over soon."

"Bribing me with cake," Tommy said with a shake of his head. He could only imagine how Adam would react if he were to tell him that his mom thought he was a 'cutey'.

"I do what works, son," Amelia said, as she stood up.

"Okay, I promise, I'll bring him over soon," Tommy said, as he hugged his mom. He had been terrified when he came out to his parents two years ago, as he really wasn't sure how they'd react to the news that their only child was gay. It was especially scary because of his dad being in the military, what with the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy and Matthew Oliver's tendency to run the house with military efficiency. However, both of his parents had surprised him and accepted it, making it clear that they still loved him. They were a little worried that he'd have a harder life, due to the bigots in the world, but they knew that their son could take care of himself. Little did they know just how well he could take care of himself.

After a minute, Tommy pulled back and kissed his mom on the cheek, before he said, "I really need to be going, Mom."

"Where are you and Adam going anyway?"

"I'm taking him to that new Italian restaurant over on Mirabello and Main," Tommy answered. "And we were talking about maybe going to a movie afterwards." Okay, that wasn't actually true, as Adam's parents were out of town for the weekend and the actual plan was that after dinner, Tommy and Adam would go over to the Park house and take advantage of that to have some fun in Adam's bed. But, Tommy wasn't about to tell his mother that he was having sex with Adam. He liked to avoid discussing that topic with his parents if he could help it. So, he allowed them to believe that he was still a virgin, even if that hadn't actually been true for a couple of years already. Adam had not been his first, but he was the best as far as Tommy was concerned.

Amelia looked impressed. "That's not exactly a cheap place, son."

"I know, but I've been saving," Tommy said. He'd done a few odd jobs in between his ranger duties, plus his parents still gave him an allowance. He also made some money from the karate classes that he taught with Adam. Obviously they split what they made and it wouldn't make either of them rich, but since Ernie allowed them to use the Youth Center for their classes for free, they made a bit more than they would have if they'd had to rent space somewhere. Not that their parents were likely to allow them to open an actual dojo while they were still in high school. Of course, between their ranger duties and school, they really wouldn't have the time to do it, even if their parents let them.

Shaking her head, Amelia walked over to the hall table and grabbed her wallet from her purse, before she pulled out a bill and handed it to Tommy, "Here, take this."

Tommy's eyes widened as he saw what his mother was holding out: it was a hundred dollar bill. Shaking his head, he said, "Mom, that's way too much."

"Take it, Tommy, I insist," Amelia said. "You're such a good son, you deserve to have a fun night out with your boyfriend every now and then. Besides, your father took me to that restaurant last week and I can tell you that the food alone is going to cost you at least half this amount. Cheapest entree on the menu is eighteen dollars and I happen to know it's not something you'll eat. Knowing your tastes, if I remember correctly, the cheapest entree you'd actually be willing to eat is $24.95."

**_'Wow,'_** Tommy thought. **_'Didn't realize the place was that expensive.'_** The main reason he'd chosen it was because, well other than the fact that both he and Adam liked Italian food, he figured it wasn't a place that they were likely to run into a bunch of people they knew. That's not to say that he didn't like his friends or anything, but being rangers, he was with them almost all the time and sometimes one just needed time alone with that special someone. In terms of money, after paying a couple of bills, Tommy had managed to save just over sixty dollars, so as long as he and Adam didn't go overboard, he could afford it. Although he had to admit, with prices like that, he wouldn't mind having a little extra in his wallet just in case, because he didn't want Adam to have to pay anything for this date. That didn't mean that he wouldn't try, but Tommy was determined not to let him.

Still, a hundred dollars was a lot and he was hesitant to take it. "Mom..."

"Thomas David Oliver, not buts. Take it," Amelia said in her 'You had better do what I say or you will regret it' voice. Tommy knew, from years of experience, that when his mother used his full name and spoke in that voice it was in his best interests to do as she said. While she was a very pretty and fashionable woman, who generally did not get angry, that didn't mean that she was a pushover.

On the contrary, she was quite formidable when she wanted to be. Not only had she picked up a few things over the years from her career military husband, but it was also from Amelia that Tommy had developed a love for the martial arts. For all of his training and the extra practice he'd gotten as a ranger, Tommy had only beaten his mother in a sparring match once. And while he'd never confirmed it, he had a sneaking suspicion that that was only because she'd let him win. Of course, like him, his mom had started training when she was seven, so she had thirty years of practice compared to Tommy's nine. Among the humans that he'd faced off against, Tommy ranked his mother in the top ten most difficult opponents he'd ever had.

Taking the money, Tommy pulled out his wallet and added it, before slipping it back into his back pocket. Taking out his car keys, he gave his mom a quick peck on the cheek and said, "Thanks, Mom, bye."

He was out the door before Amelia could respond. She just shook her head, an amused smile on her face, before she sat back down and resumed reading the paper.

-o-0-o-

On his way home from the locksmith, Zaidan stopped in at the Youth Center for a smoothie. They were honestly the best he'd ever tasted and he couldn't get enough of them. Sitting at the bar sipping his drink, he was alone for a little while, before he felt a presence behind him. Before he could react, however, a pair of hands went over his eyes and a voice whispered, "Guess who."

Zaidan knew perfectly well who it was, of course, but grinned as he asked, "Leonardo DiCaprio?"

"Cold," the voice said.

"Damn," Zaidan said, at which point the person behind him took one hand off of his eyes and lightly slapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm, let's see here," Zaidan said, as he pretended to contemplate who was behind him. "Brad Pitt?"

Getting slapped on the shoulder again, slightly harder this time, Zaidan finally said, "Oh fine. Stop hitting me, Mr. DeSantos."

Coming around and taking a seat at the bar next to Zaidan, Rocky said, "Took you long enough."

Zaidan grinned and shook his head. "Oh please, I knew it was you all along. I was just messing with you."

"Whatever you say, Zaidan," Rocky said, the look on his face clearly saying he didn't believe the blond.

"Fine, don't believe me," Zaidan said with a shrug as he took a sip of his drink.

Rocky just shook his head and ordered a smoothie for himself before he asked, "So, what are you up to?"

"Having a smoothie on the way home from the locksmith," Zaidan answered.

"Locksmith?" Rocky asked, before he grinned and asked, "You lock yourself out of your house?"

Zaidan playfully hit Rocky in the shoulder and said, "No, Rocko, I didn't lock myself out. I'm not Tommy."

Rocky laughed as Ernie delivered his smoothie and went over to serve another customer. "So, why did you need to see a locksmith?"

"Had a couple duplicates of my house key made," Zaidan said. "I hired a live-in housekeeper and a landscaper, too, so they needed their own keys."

Rocky got a confused look on his face as he said, "I've heard of a live-in housekeeper, but a live-in landscaper?"

"Yeah, I know, sounds a little odd," Zaidan responded. "They're a couple. I needed a housekeeper and it so happened that the live-in boyfriend of the one I hired was a landscaper. They were a package deal."

Nodding, Rocky said, "Ah, okay. So how old is this woman and her boyfriend?"

Zaidan laughed and asked, "Who said it was a woman?"

"Well, I just assumed it was," Rocky replied, face flushing slightly.

"Assumptions are dangerous," Zaidan said. "Anyway, neither of them is female."

"A gay couple?"

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "Yeah, a gay couple. I wanted a gay-friendly housekeeper, so, I think I should be safe. Would be pretty bad if my gay housekeeper and his equally gay boyfriend weren't gay-friendly."

Now it was Rocky's turn to laugh and said, "Yeah, you're right, that would be bad." Before he could say anything else, however, his watch alarm went off and he sighed. "Well, I gotta go, Zaidan. I'd rather stay here and talk with you, but I promised my mom I'd pick my younger brothers up from soccer practice."

"No problem," Zaidan said as he leaned over and gave Rocky a quick peck on the lips. "See you later."

"Later," Rocky said with a grin, before quickly finishing his smoothie and leaving.

Zaidan shook his head and couldn't help but think that sometimes Rocky was just as forgetful as Tommy was. He'd just left without paying for his smoothie. Pulling out his wallet, Zaidan pulled out enough money for two smoothies and gave it to Ernie, explaining he was paying for Rocky's too, before leaving himself.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, up on the moon, Rita Repulsa had been watching the events unfolding in the Youth Center with interest.

"So, the red ranger has a boyfriend," Rita said, as her mind began working out a plan to use that knowledge against the rangers. "Squatt! Baboo!"

"Yes, your evilness?" Baboo asked.

"Take a group of putties and kidnap the red ranger's boyfriend," Rita ordered, as she used magic to create an image of Zaidan so her minions would know who they were kidnapping. "He just left the Youth Center and is headed for the coast on a purple motorcycle."

Squatt and Baboo nodded, as they disappeared along with a large group of putty patrollers.

-o-0-o-

Sixteen-year-old Billy Cranston was sitting in his bedroom going over some of his class notes while waiting anxiously for the phone to ring. Jason was due to be calling him soon and he was on pins and needles waiting for the call. So much so that he was having a hard time actually concentrating on the notes he was looking at, as the words were starting to blend together. Not that that would be a problem, because Billy understood the material covered in the notes, as they were for, in his opinion, one of his easier classes. He knew that most people would not consider AP Calculus to be easy, but Billy was not most people. No, the only reason he was looking over the notes was for something to do while waiting for Jason to call.

There were other things he could have been doing, but he wanted to be in his bedroom, behind a locked door, when Jason called. He was also smart enough to know that until he talked with Jason, his mind just wouldn't be able to focus on anything else. So, there wasn't much point in trying to work on any of his various experiments or inventions only to realize later that ninety percent of the work he'd done was crap and would have to be redone. No, it was best to just try and pass the time as best he could doing something that his distracted mindset couldn't mess up.

He had never felt the way he felt about Jason for anyone. It had started out as nothing more than friendship. They'd lived next door to one another when they were younger and became friends despite their differing personalities. Jason was always very athletic, while Billy was more of a bookworm. They just fit together though and helped each other out as best as they could. Jason would defend Billy whenever he was perceived to be a nerd by one of the school bullies and in return Billy helped Jason with his homework.

Eventually Billy's father got a big promotion at work and they moved to a nicer house on the opposite end of town from Jason, but it didn't end Billy and Jason's friendship. No, if anything, it got stronger, until finally things culminated in the two of them losing their virginity to one another one night when they were fourteen. They didn't immediately get together as a couple afterward, however, as Jason was struggling with his feelings at the time. For Billy it was easy. He'd known he was gay since he was ten. He had never mentioned it to Jason, though, for fear of losing him as a friend.

So, he was certainly surprised that night when they were fourteen, as it was Jason who'd made the first move. It wasn't quite as cut and dry for Jason, however, because he liked girls, but he couldn't deny that he found some boys, including Billy, to be very attractive. That was partially why Jason made the move on Billy. He suspected that his friend would be receptive and he wanted to explore the feelings he was having. Explaining the situation to Billy afterwards, Jason was happy that Billy understood. The blond genius understood that if anything long term was going to happen between them, then Jason needed time to sort out his feelings, and Billy was more than willing to give him that time.

It took a few months, almost a year actually, for Jason to sort everything out in his head. Of course, Rita showing up and Billy, Jason, and their friends becoming the rangers did get in the way, as Jason had less time to sort things out in his head. Although, in a way it also helped because seeing Billy in tight blue spandex all the time - well, let's just say it reconfirmed a few things in Jason's head. Once he'd finished sorting his complicated feelings and accepted them, things progressed much faster between Jason and Billy. They did not immediately jump into bed again, however, regardless of the fact that their overactive teenage hormones were wishing they would.

One of the things that Jason had realized in the time he'd spent sorting things out was that he loved Billy as more than just a friend. He really wanted things to work out between them as a long-term couple and Jason was afraid that if they had sex too soon, even though they'd already done it once, that it would have a negative effect on their future chances. So, Jason resisted the urge to jump his friend and contented himself to just spending time with him. With Rita around there wasn't much time for Jason to make grand romantic plans, but he and Billy did get a few dates in here and there. Finally, on the night they finally made love again, and that is what it was in both of their minds, they knew that each other was the only thing they wanted.

Billy's train of thought was interrupted as his phone rang. It was a private line, so, the only phone connected to it was in Billy's bedroom and thus he wasn't worried about anyone else answering it before him. That didn't mean, however, that he took his time about it, as he practically shot out of his desk chair and towards the phone at light speed. The phone had just barely begun ringing for the second time when Billy answered. "Hello?"

_"Hey Bill,"_ Jason's voice said.

"Jase," Billy said as he sat down on his bed. "I was hoping it was you."

_"Were you now?"_ Jason asked.

"Affirmative," Billy said. "I miss you voluminously."

_"Voluminously, huh?"_ Jason asked and Billy didn't need to physically see his boyfriend to know that he was grinning. Jason's vocabulary had greatly expanded by the time that he and Billy officially became an item and continued to do so the longer they were together. It was to the point that most of their friends had stopped looking to Trini and instead looked to Jason to translate for them when they didn't understand something that the blue ranger had said. Of course, there were still times that Trini needed to help Jason because expanded vocabulary or not, even he still had the occasional difficulty with his boyfriend's tech speak, which they'd all affectionately named Billy-speak.

"Indeed," Billy confirmed. "Do you miss me?"

_"Of course, I do,"_ Jason said. _"That's a silly question. I almost wish I hadn't signed up for the peace conference because I miss you like crazy, Bill."_

"It's a fabulous opportunity," Billy argued.

_"Yes, but it would have been better if you'd been picked to come with me,"_ Jason countered. _"Trini and Zack are great and I'm glad they're with me, but, they're not you."_

Billy understood where his boyfriend was coming from, as the long distance was not something that either of them particularly enjoyed. "True, but, it will look good on your college applications."

_"I know, although I hope I can get into a college within driving distance of MIT,"_ Jason said. _"Cause I have no illusions about getting in myself and I know you want to go there. I also don't wanna do this long-distance thing ever again - when this peace conference is over, I'm never letting you out of my sight."_

"Me either," Billy agreed. "And don't sell yourself short, Jase, you're a very smart person."

_"That's mainly from hanging out with you all these years,"_ Jason said. Before Billy could say anything about the self-deprecating remark, Jason changed the subject by asking, _"Anyway, what's going on there? Anything interesting?"_

Even though they tried to talk on the phone every day, they didn't always succeed, what with Billy's ranger duties and the various lectures and meetings that Jason had to attend in Geneva. And in Jason's case, this was on top of having to get all of his regular class work done, which took a bit longer than it used to simply because he didn't have Billy around to help him. Trini was an acceptable replacement in that department, but Jason much preferred his boyfriend obviously. This was the first time in a couple of days they'd managed to talk, so, Billy hadn't filled Jason in about recent developments yet.

"Well, there's a new student in school named Zaidan Prince," Billy said. "We've all been spending time with him - Rocky, more so than the rest of us."

_"Really?"_ Jason asked, intrigued. _"Does that mean Rocko finally got himself a boyfriend?"_

"Well I'm not sure they're at that point yet," Billy answered. "We haven't known Zaidan all that long, less than a week, but he and Rocky have really hit it off. Once they found out they were both gay, they've been practically inseparable."

_"Cool,"_ Jason said. _"I'm happy for Rocky."_ Jason was silent for a moment, before he said, _"So, Bill, what are you wearing?"_

Billy grinned at the direction he had a feeling this conversation was about to take. He definitely wasn't complaining. In fact, he'd been hoping the conversation would take this turn - enough so that he'd gotten ready for it ahead of time. A mischievous tone slipped into Billy's voice as he answered, "My glasses and a smile."

_"Ooh - hot,"_ Jason said. _"I so wish I could see you right now."_

"So do I," Billy returned. "What about you?"

_"The red bikinis you got me for my birthday,"_ Jason replied, as he recalled opening the birthday present that Billy had insisted had to be opened in private. He hadn't understood why until he opened them and saw what was in the box. He'd blushed redder than his ranger suit, especially after Billy convinced him to put them on and look at himself in the mirror. They were tight and left nothing to the imagination - definitely not something that Jason would normally have picked for himself, but then that's exactly why Billy had chosen them. Well and also because he liked seeing the brunet in tight-fitting clothing and he was pretty sure that asking Jason to morph so that he could see him in his spandex ranger suit was probably against the rules. They weren't supposed to use their powers for personal gain, after all, and Billy couldn't see any way that actually using their powers to act out their sexual fantasies could be seen as anything other than personal gain.

"Oh God," Billy said. "Now I really wish I could see you."

_"I'll just bet you do,"_ Jason said. _"You getting hard yet?"_

"Most assuredly," Billy replied, as he lied down, so that he was lying flat on his bed. "You?"

_"Getting there,"_ Jason said. _"Thinking about you in just your glasses? How could I not?"_

"Well, we'll have to remedy that," Billy said in a low, seductive voice that was almost a growl, which sent shivers of pleasure down Jason's spine. "If I was there with you, Jase, I'd be licking you behind your left ear. You're so sensitive there - just the thought of licking you there as you buck upwards and press your cock into mine is making me even harder."

_"Oh you definitely know the right things to say, Bill,"_ Jason returned in a soft voice. _"Can I take these things off now? They're getting uncomfortably tight."_

"Not quite yet," Billy returned. "Grab your nipples and pinch them - make them get hard like your cock."

_"Okkaayy,"_ Jason said, drawing out the word a bit, as he shifted in his desk chair a bit in a vain attempt to adjust the growing bulge in his underwear. He then moved so that he was holding the phone between his right ear and shoulder, while he reached up with his right hand and began pinching one of his nipples.

Billy could hear Jason's moans, so he knew his boyfriend had done as he'd been told. Billy was pinching his own nipples, as he said, "Now stick a finger in your mouth and get it wet - then move it around behind your left ear and pretend it's my tongue."

Once Billy had learned just how sensitive Jason was behind his left ear, he'd begun kissing and licking him there as often as possible, so Jason had little trouble imagining that his finger was Billy's tongue. Moving it around behind his ear, probing in the same pattern that the blond often used, Jason could feel himself getting painfully hard, as both his cock and nipples began reacting to the stimulus. _"Oh, Billy, I'm so hard."_

"Good," Billy said, as he moved one hand slowly down from his nipples, trailing it over his abs, as he pretended it was Jason doing it. "Keep fingering yourself behind your ear, but take your other hand and trail it down your chest and abs - slowly."

_"Oh, Billy,"_ Jason moaned out as he moved his hand as Billy told him to, all the while pretending that it was the blond doing it.

"When you reach your waistband," Billy said, "slip your hand inside and pretend it's my hand cupping your dick - give it a good squeeze."

It took a few moments, but Jason was soon letting out a guttural moan over the phone that made Billy smile. "Do you enjoy my hand on your dick?"

_"Y-yes,"_ Jason moaned out, as he squeezed his dick several times, enjoying the throbbing sensation as images of Billy danced in his mind's eye. _"Oh, Billy..."_

"I love it when you moan my name, Jase," Billy said, as he reached over to his nightstand and grabbed the bottle of lube he'd set out earlier. Opening it with one hand, he squirted a few drops onto his erection and set the bottle back on the nightstand before wrapping his hand firmly around his cock. "I've got my hand around my lubed cock now, Jase - I'm stroking myself, nice and slow - methodically - pretending it's you."

_"Billy, oh, God Billy, please..."_ Jason moaned.

"Are you sitting down?" Billy asked, knowing that Jason often sat in the chair at his desk while they chatted on the phone - usually with his computer powered up because Jason had opted to use a picture of Billy as his desktop wallpaper.

_"Yes,"_ came Jason's breathy reply.

"Stay sitting," Billy commanded, "but pull your cock out of your underwear."

Happy to get his straining erection out of the confining cotton prison, Jason quickly did as he was bid, as Billy continued speaking in a sultry voice, "Now put some lube on your cock and wrap your hand around it. Start pumping yourself like I'm doing to myself."

Jason's hand was soon wrapped around his slick dick, moving up and down in the same, slow motion that Billy had used on him so many times in the past. "I'm pumping my dick, Jase, pretending it's your strong hand gripping me... are you doing the same?"

_"Yes, Billy, oh yes,"_ Jason moaned out. _"I so wish you were here."_

"I wish I was too," Billy said. "If I was, it would be my mouth on your cock, moving up and down, slow and sensual, as I played with your balls. Can you imagine me doing that, Jase?"

All Jason could do was moan as he imagined just that.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, Tommy and Adam had finished dinner at the new Italian place and Tommy was grateful that his Mom had given him the extra money. Between their appetizer, drinks, entrees, dessert, sales tax, and the gratuity the restaurant added automatically to all checks the total bill was just over seventy-one dollars. So, if it hadn't been for the money his Mom had given him, Tommy would have spent all of the money he'd saved and had no choice but to allow Adam to help with the bill. The black ranger had certainly tried to do just that, of course, but Tommy insisted, managing to surprise Adam when he pulled the hundred dollar bill out of his wallet and laid it on the little tray the waitress had brought their check on, along with a pair of after dinner mints.

"Where'd you get that?" Adam asked, shocked, while they waited for the change.

Tommy knew that Adam would pick up on it if he tried to lie, so he opted to tell the truth. "Mom gave it to me." Then with a mischievous smirk on his face, he added, "After she told me I needed to bring you over sometime soon - called you a cutey."

Adam blushed at that, but didn't say anything as the waitress returned with the change at that moment. Leaving the restaurant, they got into Tommy's jeep and headed straight for the Park house, which was blissfully empty with Mr. and Mrs. Park out of town for the weekend. Getting inside they were almost immediately kissing as they headed up the stairs to Adam's bedroom, leaving behind a trail of clothes. By the time they collapsed on the Korean boy's bed, they were completely naked, their lips never leaving the other's for a second.

Continuing to kiss each other passionately, as their hands moved over the other's skin, exploring every inch, Tommy was soon on top of Adam, and pushing his hips downward into Adam's, sending pleasurable sensations throughout their bodies as their hardened cocks rubbed together. After a few more minutes, they finally broke their kiss, as the annoying need for air finally got the best of them. They remained in each other's arms, however, with Adam massaging the small of Tommy's back with one hand, while he ran his other hand through Tommy's hair.

"I've decided to get my hair cut you know," Tommy said. "It's just too long - keeps getting in the way."

Adam nodded, as he knew about the hair in the helmet clasp incident, as he said, "That's fine, just don't get it cut too short - I like running my fingers through it."

"Don't worry," Tommy said. "I got mostly buzz cuts as a kid, so, I have no intention of going that short. I'm just sick of the ponytail whipping around my head and into my eyes during practice."

"I can see how that would be annoying," Adam said and grinned as one of Tommy's hands found its way to his cock and began squeezing it, as his other hand began playing with his balls. Adam was in heaven. At least until a beeping noise could suddenly be heard in the otherwise quiet room.

"No," Tommy and Adam both groaned, as Tommy's head moved forward and rested against Adam's for a moment.

"Damn you, Rita," Adam groaned out, as he reached over to his nightstand and grabbed one of the communicators that was lying there. He didn't know if it was Tommy's or his, as they'd both taken them off and set them on the nightstand at some point during their make out session. Pressing the talk button, he said, "This is Adam - what's up, Alpha?"

"Rangers, you need to come to the command center as quickly as possible," Alpha said. "Rita has kidnapped your friend Zaidan."

Both Tommy's and Adam's eyes widened at that, as they briefly wondered how Alpha even knew Zaidan's name, but didn't comment on that, as they both got off the bed and scrambled to get dressed before teleporting to the command center.

-o-0-o-

Minutes later, Tommy and Adam arrived to find Rocky already present, while Alpha stood at a nearby console contacting the other rangers. Looking over the viewing globe, Tommy and Adam could see a large group of putties surrounding Zaidan's motorcycle. Having always been good at reading people, Adam can see the confusion in Zaidan's eyes, which were visible through the open visor of his motorcycle helmet. It seems the putties showing up and surrounding him caught him completely off guard. Using that to their advantage, Zaidan was soon restrained, with four or five putties hanging onto each of his arms, at which point Squatt and Baboo appeared. Shortly thereafter, they disappeared again, along with Zaidan and the putties, leaving the teen's motorcycle abandoned in the middle of the street.

Before anyone could say anything, Billy teleported into the command center in a streak of blue and Adam's keen eye couldn't help but notice that despite the obvious distress on his face over the kidnapping of their new friend, he also had an unmistakable gleam in his eye. The type of gleam one only got from being sexually sated.

**_'Probably had phone sex with Jason again,'_** Adam thought mutinously. **_'Damn it, Rita, you couldn't have waited an hour?'_**

If someone could hear Adam's thoughts, one might almost think he didn't care that Zaidan had been kidnapped. That was completely untrue because Adam did care. However, he was also a sexually frustrated teenager. And this wasn't the first time that the communicator had beeped in the middle of Adam trying to have some private time with Tommy. It's only natural that he'd get a little frustrated after awhile.

Once everyone was present, Zordon said, "Rangers, as Alpha has already told you, Rita has captured your friend Zaidan. According to our scans, he's being held in Rita's dark dimension."

"Why would she want to kidnap Zaidan?" Kim asked.

"Well, he's a good martial artist," Tommy hypothesized. "Maybe she's going to try and make another evil ranger?"

"It's possible," Billy agreed. "Although it's also possible that she's trying to get at us through him. That's even more likely if she's realized that Rocky and Zaidan are dating."

"I don't care why she took him," Rocky said, his tone impatient. "We have to get him back!"

"I agree, Rocky," Aisha said. "But how?"

"Billy, you created a device to get into the dark dimension, right?" Tommy asked.

Billy nodded and said, "Affirmative. Originally, it was only powerful enough to get one ranger through, however, I have since made some modifications and I postulate that it could get three of us into Rita's dark dimension to rescue Zaidan."

"What are we waiting for?" Rocky exclaimed. "Let's go then!"

"Whoa, slow down, Rocko," Tommy said. "We've got a problem."

"What's that, Tommy?" Kim asked.

"Zaidan would recognize all of our voices," Tommy said.

"That's true, he would," Billy said, as his brow creased in thought. "It was before Rocky, Adam, and Aisha arrived, but there was a time when we had to rescue Jason's cousin Jeremy from one of Rita's monsters. When the monster was dealt with and we checked to make sure Jeremy was safe, Jason made a point of remaining silent, as his cousin would undoubtedly recognize his voice. Kim, Trini, Zack, Tommy, and I hadn't spent any time with Jeremy at that point, so, we could talk to him safely, but that isn't the case this time. Zaidan has spent enough time with all of us that if he hears our voices, he's sure to recognize them."

"So we simply don't talk!" Rocky exclaimed, as he turned imploring eyes at Zordon and added, "We can't just leave Zaidan to Rita's mercy because we're afraid of revealing who we are."

Before Zordon could say anything, Adam said, "Rocky, I understand that you're worried about Zaidan. I am too, but you know the rules. We can't let anyone know we're the rangers and that includes Zaidan."

"So, we should just leave him there?!" Rocky demanded.

Tommy shook his head, "Nobody is suggesting that, Rocky. However, we can't just go rushing in without a plan."

"And whatever plan we do come up with," Billy added, "it has to include some means of overcoming the voice recognition issue. It's unlikely that we'd be able to try and rescue Zaidan and completely avoid talking in his presence."

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, Zaidan woke up on the what felt like a cold stone floor, with a thick fog surrounding him. He'd been relieved of his motorcycle helmet and he had a distinct throbbing pain in the back of his head, as if he'd been knocked unconscious. Struggling for a moment to get his bearings, he stood up and looked around at the golden bars that surrounded him and asked, "Where the hell am I?"

"You're in the Dark Dimension," a deep voice said and Zaidan spun around and came face to face with a creature that looked like some kind of ugly monkey wearing golden armor.

"Who are you?"

"Goldar," the creature answered. "Faithful servant of Rita Repulsa."

**_'Rita?'_** Zaidan thought. **_'Great, just great. What could she possibly want with me? Although, on second thought, something tells me I really don't want to know.'_**

Giving Goldar a look that he hoped conveyed the fact that he wasn't scared, Zaidan said, "Well, as much as I'd love to stay, I really do need to be going now."

"You're not going anywhere," Goldar said.

"Really? And who's going to stop me? You?"

Pulling out his sword and pointing it at Zaidan's throat, Goldar said, "I suggest you close your mouth - before I close it for you."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Zaidan asked with a smirk. "You'll have to do better than that because I really don't scare easily."

Before Goldar could comment or react, Zaidan flipped backwards out of the reach of the sword and ducked down into the thick fog near the floor, obscuring himself from view.

"You think you can hide from me?" Goldar said.

"Yeah, I do," Zaidan said, successfully throwing his voice so that it sounded like it was coming from the opposite side of the room. When Goldar moved to investigate, he turned his back to Zaidan, at which point the blond teen jumped up and hit the armored monkey in the back with a hurricane kick. Not expecting it, Goldar stumbled but remained on his feet as he turned to face Zaidan, who'd adopted a fighting stance.

"So you're a martial artist," Goldar said. "Pity that won't help you."

Goldar and Zaidan fought for a moment, with Goldar quickly gaining the upper hand, despite Zaidan's best efforts. Backing him into a corner, Goldar lunged forward and grabbed Zaidan's throat, lifting him up in the air and pinning him against a wall as he said, "Understand this, you pathetic little human - I can finish you off anytime I want. Fighting me won't get you anywhere but an early grave."

Gasping for breath, Zaidan realized that if he was going to get out of this, he'd have to take drastic measures. Raising his hands towards Goldar's chest, Zaidan concentrated for a moment, before small arcs of lightning shot out of his fingertips, hitting Goldar in the chest and stunning him enough that he let go of Zaidan. Dropping to his feet, Zaidan looked smug, as he looked at Goldar and taunted him, "Oh really? I'd like to see you try."

Before Goldar could say anything, Zaidan raised his hands again and more lightning shot out of his fingertips to hit Goldar, as he said, "As you can see, I'm not as weak as you thought."

Goldar laid cowering on the floor for a moment, before he teleported himself away to escape from Zaidan's onslaught. Zaidan smiled, although only briefly, before he heard another voice.

"My, my Mr. Prince, you are full of surprises, aren't you?" Turning around, Zaidan came face to face with the woman he'd up until now only seen in news reports - Rita Repulsa. Buoyed by his success over Goldar, Zaidan raised his hands and more lightning poured from his fingertips, heading straight for Rita, only she was obviously ready as she moved her wand to intercept Zaidan's attack, before sending one of her own, which sent Zaidan flying backwards against a wall. "That might have worked on Goldar, but it won't work on me, boy. You may have some small degree of magical power, but you're a rank amateur in comparison to me."

Before Zaidan could react, he found himself restrained against the wall and try as he might, he couldn't summon even the smallest bit of the power that coursed through his veins. In fact, he was finding it harder and harder to even feel the power any longer, leading him to believe that Rita's restraints were either blocking his powers or leeching them out of his body.

After a moment of silence, Rita said, "I will enjoy studying you, Mr. Prince, as there is obviously more to you than meets the eye. Luckily for you, it's time for my beauty sleep, so you'll get a reprieve for now, but when I wake I will begin studying you. And if you think simply having your power blocked is uncomfortable, just wait until you begin feeling it used against you."

Rita laughed at the look of terror now clearly visible on Zaidan's face, before she disappeared, leaving Zaidan shackled to the wall.

-o-0-o-

"How are we going to deal with this?" Kim asked.

"Voice distorters?" Aisha asked.

Billy shook his head. "A good idea, but difficult to implement. A voice distorter would mask our voices, but it would have to be placed inside of our helmets to be effective. I've run some simulations on doing it, but I've never managed to find the right calibration to make them work for any length of time. As of now, any distorter would be shorted out and destroyed within seconds by our own powers."

"Any chance you could find the right calibration?" Tommy asked. "In say five minutes or less?"

"Negative," Billy said. "I'm a genius, not a miracle worker."

All was silent for a few moments, as the rangers stood around contemplating what to do. Looking over at Rocky, who was pacing restlessly and looking like he was about ready to punch something, the other rangers knew this was upsetting him the most. While it was certainly true that they hadn't known Zaidan for very long, it was clear that Rocky had really taken a shine to him. Of course, his friends weren't all that surprised because they all knew that Rocky had been lonely before Zaidan arrived. True, he hadn't been without friends, but he'd also been surrounded by happy couples in the form of Jason and Billy and Tommy and Adam. Kim and Aisha had tried to keep Rocky company a couple of times, but there's only so much that two straight girls can do to alleviate the romantic loneliness of their gay male friend. Mainly try to take his mind off of it and make him think of something else, which wasn't always easy.

"Damn it, we've gotta do something!" Rocky exclaimed.

After another moment of silence, Adam looked up and said, "What about the former rangers?"

"What do you mean, Adam?" Tommy asked.

"Jason, Zack, and Trini," Adam replied. "They still have their power coins, don't they? They were just duplicated for Rocky, Aisha, and me. If they could temporarily reclaim their powers, couldn't they go rescue Zaidan?"

"Of course," Billy said. "They left for the peace conference before Zaidan came to town. He's never heard their voices and thus wouldn't recognize them."

"Would it be possible Zordon?" Kim asked. "They still have their communicators."

Zordon remained quiet for a moment, as he contemplated the suggestion, before nodding and saying, "It would be possible for them to temporarily reclaim their powers, if they're willing to do so."

"I know Jason would help," Billy said. "If he's needed, there'd be no question in his mind."

"So would the others, I think," Tommy said. "So, I say it's worth a shot."

Billy had switched Jason's, Zack's, and Trini's communicators to a secondary channel before they left, so that there communicators wouldn't go off every time the active rangers' did, but, they were still contactable in case of an emergency. So, switching the communications array to the secondary channel, Billy pressed the button that would make the former rangers' communicators beep. Then all they could do was stand back and hope one of them called in soon.

They didn't have to wait long, as Jason's voice came over the communications array. "Zordon, Alpha, this is Jason. Is something wrong?"

Raising his communicator to his lips, Tommy said, "Bro, it's good to hear your voice. Can you round up Zack and Trini? We've got a problem and could use your help."

"Sure, we were just sitting down for dinner," Jason said. After another moment, Jason said, "Got them."

Zack's voice came over the array at this point as he said, "What's up?" before Trini asked, "How can we help?"

"Rangers, stand clear of any witnesses," Zordon instructed. "Alpha will teleport you back here and we'll explain."

Once the three former rangers indicated that they were in a secluded corner with nobody around, Alpha locked onto their communicator signals and teleported them, as the three of them left Geneva in three identical streams of white light. Seconds later, they were back in the command center and quick greetings were exchanged. Well, some quicker than others, because as soon as Jason's eyes met Billy's the two teens crossed the room and pulled each other into a passionate kiss. They hadn't seen each other in person in weeks, after all, so they were definitely happy to see one another.

Zordon gave the two teens a moment to get reacquainted before clearing his throat. Jason and Billy broke off their kiss and Jason turned his attention to Zordon, although he left one arm wrapped around Billy's waist, as one of the blue ranger's hands slipped into the back pocket of Jason's jeans.

"Rangers," Zordon said, looking at Zack, Trini, and Jason, "Rita has kidnapped a new friend of the other rangers and is holding him in her Dark Dimension. We don't know if she plans on making a new evil ranger or if she's simply trying to use him to get to the rangers."

"New friend?" Jason asked. "Is this that guy you mentioned on the phone earlier, Bill?"

Billy nodded. "Yes, his name is Zaidan Prince. We've all been hanging out with him, but he's particularly close with Rocky - they've started dating."

Trini immediately walked over to Rocky and pulled the clearly agitated teen into a comforting embrace, as she asked, "What can we do to help?"

"Billy has modified his dimensional transporter," Tommy explained. "He can get three rangers into Rita's Dark Dimension to rescue Zaidan - problem is, he'd recognize our voices."

Adam nodded. "And it's unlikely that we'd be able to rescue him without saying anything."

"But he's never met any of you," Aisha explained, "so, he wouldn't recognize your voices."

"The three of you are still in possession of your power coins," Zordon explained. "If you're willing, we can temporarily transfer your old powers back to you and you can then journey to the Dark Dimension and rescue Mr. Prince."

As Billy had suspected, almost immediately Jason nodded and said, "I'm in."

"Part of me has missed being an active ranger," Zack commented, before he grinned and added, "Count me in."

Trini rubbed Rocky's back and said in a soothing tone, "Don't worry, Rocky, we'll get him back for you."

Rocky nodded, but didn't say anything. He was just glad that something was finally going to be done to help Zaidan. He hated the thought of his blond Adonis being in Rita's clutches. He wasn't really sure if he believed in love at first sight, but he did know that he'd felt a pain in his heart the likes of which he'd never felt before as soon as he'd found out that Zaidan had been taken.

"Then we shall begin the power transfer immediately," Zordon said, as which point the rangers all nodded and morphed, before the Sword of Light appeared in Tommy's hands. As he'd done a few weeks previously when the powers had been transferred the first time, Tommy held the sword high above his head, as Zordon directed twin beams of energy into the sword. Moments later, three additional streams of light, in red, black, and yellow shot over to Jason, Zack and Trini as the familiar power began to flow back into their bodies.

Rocky, Adam, and Aisha's suits flickered a bit during this process, but they remained in their morphed forms. They could all, however, feel a distinct decrease in their power levels and knew that the majority of their powers had been transferred back to their original owners. While none of them voiced it, they could now all understand how Jason, Zack, and Trini must have felt when their powers were transferred, as getting a taste of the power and then losing it, left the three of them feeling as if a significant part of their very beings was missing.

"We need to be out in the open to use the dimensional transporter," Billy said. "The park will suffice - let's just hope that Rita doesn't catch on to what we're doing."

The rangers nodded as Tommy said, "Back to action," and the original team teleported out, leaving Adam, Rocky, and Aisha behind. Taking of their helmets, the three friends leaned against nearby consoles as they settled in to watch and wait. Adam also laid a hand on Rocky's shoulder, as Aisha pulled him into a hug, both hoping that the closeness of two of his oldest friends would help him.

-o-0-o-

Of course, as the rangers would soon learn, it was definitely asking for too much to think that Rita wouldn't find out what they were doing. Although, in truth, she didn't know yet, as it had been Goldar who had been looking through Rita's telescope and spied the rangers in the park setting up the devices that would allow them to open a portal into the dark dimension. Wanting to try and redeem himself in Rita's eyes after he'd been forced to flee the dark dimension to escape Zaidan's magical attack, Goldar headed down to Earth, along with Scorpina and a large group of putties.

"Not so fast, Rangers," Goldar said. "Didn't think it would be that easy, did you?"

"We'd hoped it would be," Tommy said, as he fell into a fighting stance, along with Kimberly, Jason, and Zack, while Trini and Billy stayed behind to guard the device that would open the portal into the dark dimension. They couldn't afford to have it damaged or else Zaidan might be trapped.

Back at the command center, Rocky, Aisha, and Adam watched as the battle began. After a few minutes Rocky said, "We've gotta help them."

"That is unadvisable, Rocky," Zordon said.

"We can handle the putties," Rocky argued.

"It isn't just the putties though," Aisha pointed out. "It's also Goldar and Scorpina."

"Without your full powers to protect you," Zordon warned, "any attacks from Goldar and Scorpina that hit any of you would have a much higher chance of causing serious injury. You would also find using any of your powers to be impossible at the moment, as you've only retained the bare minimum of power to keep your uniforms on. They won't provide any protection, however, and calling for your weapons wouldn't work as you don't have enough power to wield them."

"We don't need to wield our weapons," Rocky said. "The three of us could just stay back and guard the portal device - that way Trini and Billy could join the others and fight Goldar, Scorpina and the putties."

Walking over to a console, Alpha said, "With some adjustments to the power amplifier, I should be able to enable you to use your blade blasters at least."

Seeing the determined looks on the three teens' faces, Zordon sighed and said, "Very well, Alpha make the adjustments." Rocky, Adam, and Aisha took this as a sign that they could go, so they put their helmets back on and were soon teleported to the park, appearing next to Trini and Billy.

"Zordon sent us to help," Adam explained. "We'll guard this."

"Yeah, we've got this," Rocky said. "Go fight the others."

"Just try to keep Goldar and Scorpina off of us," Aisha added.

Billy and Trini nodded as they left the device in the hands of their friends and joined the other rangers in the fight.

Scorpina was the first to notice the abnormality. "What's this? Two red, yellow, and black rangers?"

"That's right Scorpina," Kimberly said as she jumped into the air and fired an arrow from her bow at the golden clad female.

Scorpina barely managed to avoid the arrow and screamed in frustration as she said, "You'll pay for that, pink ranger."

The fight continued for several minutes, with Tommy and Jason doing their best to keep Goldar occupied, while Zack and Kimberly concentrated on Scorpina. Billy and Trini, meanwhile, were fighting the putties, with some help from Adam, Rocky, and Aisha as the three of them had taken out their blasters and would fire at a putty whenever they had a clear shot. They remained crouched next to the portal device, however, not wanting any of the enemies to get close enough to try and sabotage it.

After a few more minutes, all of the putties were on the ground and Tommy shouted over to Jason, "Bring 'em together."

"Right," Jason said, as Zack, Trini, Billy, Kimberly, and him brought their weapons together to form the power blaster. Of course, Goldar and Scorpina teleported away before the rangers could fire, at which point the downed putties disappeared as well.

Running back over to the portal device, Billy set about opening the portal as Rocky, Adam, and Aisha teleported back to the command center so that they wouldn't be seen by Zaidan when he emerged from the portal. Once the portal was open, Jason, Trini, and Zack entered the portal. Scanning the area, they quickly found Zaidan restrained against the wall. Trini took out her daggers and used them to break the restraints, causing Zaidan to fall forward, being caught by Jason and Zack before he could hit the floor. Not wanting to spend any more time in the dark dimension than necessary, in case Goldar, Scorpina, or worse Rita, came to stop them trying to take Zaidan, the three rangers quickly got him through the portal and back to Angel Grove.

"You okay?" Jason asked.

Zaidan coughed, but nodded. "A little weak, but yeah." After a moment, he realized who he was talking to and said, "Wow, never expected to meet the rangers up close and personal. Then again I never expected Rita to kidnap me either."

"Do you have any idea why she did?" Trini asked.

Zaidan shook his head. "No, I don't. All I remember is the putties surrounding me on my way home and the next thing I know I was waking up in that prison and Rita was restraining me against a wall."

He opted to leave out his use of magic to defeat Goldar, as he wasn't ready to share his secrets with anyone yet and that included the power rangers. He figured it wasn't necessarily for them to know anyway, because he was determined to not allow himself to be so caught off guard a second time.

"We'll take you back to your bike," Zack said, as he grabbed onto Zaidan's left arm as Jason grabbed onto his right.

"Thanks," Zaidan said, before the three of them teleported out, in streams of black, white, and red. The other rangers, meanwhile, returned to the command center to tell Rocky, Adam, and Aisha that Zaidan was safe.

-o-0-o-

"You fools!" Rita screamed after she'd woken up and found out what had happened, at which point she promptly began hitting Goldar, Scorpina, Squatt, and Baboo over their heads, repeatedly, with her wand. "You can't do anything right!"

"We didn't do anything," Squatt protested.

"It was Goldar and Scorpina's fault!" Baboo added.

Rita didn't seem to hear them as she continued hitting them. "You've all failed me again! My beautiful plan to get at the rangers ruined." When she finally stopped hitting her minions, she scrunched up her face and cried out, "Oh, I have such a headache!"

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there you have Chapter 3 of 'Breaking the Cycle'. I hope you enjoyed it. I do apologize for the long wait between chapters, but I've been dealing with a lot recently, not the least of which is my mother-in-law's battle with cancer. So, writing hasn't been my top priority as of late. It doesn't help that I have multiple stories that need my attention, forcing me to split my already limited writing time between them. Anyway, what did you think of the chapter? What's up with Zaidan having magic? Is that the secret that he's keeping from the rangers? Or is there more to it than that? I'd love to hear what you're all thinking.
> 
> Pictures of Zaidan, his house, and a few others can be found in the 'Breaking the Cycle' photo album on my Yahoo group at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/storiesbyjayson/. You can also follow me on Twitter @JVascardi for updates on my writing progress.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-  
Chapter Four

-o-0-o-

Arriving back at his house, Zaidan found Greg and Mike sitting in Mike's truck in the driveway. Parking his motorcycle, he walked over and said, "I'm sorry guys. I hope you weren't waiting long."

Greg shook his head and said, "No, we just got here about five minutes ago."

"Oh good," Zaidan said. "I was detained and ended up being a bit later than I expected. " Detained was the understatement of the century, but he figured his new domestic help did not need to know that he'd just spent the last couple of hours as Rita Repulsa's prisoner. As long time residents of Angel Grove that could conceivably scare them enough that they might reconsider working for Zaidan, especially since the whole reason they'd needed a job and a place to live was because of Rita to begin with. So, instead, he opted to keep his mouth shut about that and instead reached into his pocket to retrieve the keys he'd had made for them, before he said, "Anyway, here's your house keys."

"Thanks," Greg said, as he took both keys, adding one to his key ring and tucking the other one into the watch pocket of his jeans. Zaidan's face must have looked questioning, because Greg said, "Mike is always losing his keys, especially if they're not on a ring. So, it's best I hang onto it for now."

Mike rolled his eyes and elbowed Greg, but otherwise said nothing. Zaidan grinned as he asked, "You guys need any help getting moved in?"

"No, it's mostly just clothes," Mike said. "So, it's nothing we can't handle."

"Thanks for the offer though," Greg added.

Zaidan nodded and said, "Well, in that case, I've got some homework I should get done, so I'll be in the study. Later guys."

Heading into the house, Zaidan detoured into the kitchen to grab a bottle of water from the refrigerator, before heading into the study and powering up his computer. While he waited for it to power up, he sat down in the desk chair and took a deep breath as he unscrewed the cap on the bottle. Taking a long drink, he sighed as he thought over the events of the day. Being kidnapped by Rita really had not been a part of his plans for the day and he couldn't help but wonder why she'd kidnapped him.

'My powers seem to have been a surprise to her,' Zaidan thought. 'So, why the hell did she kidnap me? What could she possibly have had to gain from it?'

Zaidan couldn't come up with any answers to his questions, however, and so he decided that he'd just have to be extra vigilant from now on. He also decided to seriously consider getting in some more practice time with his powers. He'd avoided using them for most of his life, preferring to do everything the mundane and normal way, but recent events had him thinking that maybe that was a mistake. If he was on Rita's radar now, he'd need all the help he could get. Sure, the rangers had saved him this time, but what if they weren't around the next time?

-o-0-o-

Back at the command center, with the ceremony to transfer the red, black, and yellow powers back to Rocky, Adam, and Aisha completed, it was time for Jason, Zack, and Trini to head back to Switzerland. Zack and Trini had already said their goodbyes to everyone, but Jason was holding back. He missed Billy so much and he just wished that he could stay with him. Billy, apparently, had the same thought as he asked, "Zordon?"

"Yes, Billy?" Zordon asked.

"You know that I'm in love with Jason," Billy said and Zordon nodded. "So, while I completely understand that he needs to return to Switzerland to finish with the peace conference, I was hoping that he could stay in Angel Grove for a day to allow him and I to get reacquainted."

Before Zordon could respond, Jason added, "The long distance has been very hard for both of us."

Meanwhile, the other rangers were all standing in the background with grins on their faces because they couldn't believe that Billy and Jason were actually doing this, since they were essentially asking Zordon if Jason could spend the night with Billy. And knowing them as well as they did, they didn't need Billy's high IQ to know that when the blue ranger said reacquainted that he meant that in the carnal sense. 

Zordon was silent as he thought over the request. He knew it would be good for Billy's morale for him to allow Jason to stay for a day and with the rangers being the planet's only effective defense against Rita and her minions, it was very important that they keep their morale up. Zordon also had a nagging suspicion which he hadn't shared with the rangers or even Alpha that there was something very big and very bad on the horizon which would make it more important than ever for all the rangers, including the three past rangers, to be in high spirits. After a moment, he nodded and said, "If Trini and Zack are confident that they can hide Jason's absence, he can stay for a day."

Turning to Trini and Zack, their faces pleading, Trini shook her head and smiled, "It shouldn't be a problem."

"Yeah, guys, go make rabbits jealous," Zack said as he grinned from ear to ear. "We'll cover for Jason."

"I have one other condition," Zordon added, prompting Jason and Billy to turn back to him.

"Yes Zordon?" Jason asked.

"To ensure nobody sees Jason here when he's not supposed to be," Zordon answered, "I ask that you remain here and use Billy's room for your activities."

"That's fine with us, Zordon," Billy said as Jason nodded. "Thank you."

-o-0-o-

The following Tuesday evening, Zaidan had just finished dinner and decided to check his email account, before finishing up an essay he had due the next day. Opening his browser, he logged into his email account and was met with a very strange sight. He had over thirty emails waiting for him - all of them from Wes. They were best friends, so they did email each other, but usually it wasn't more than once or twice a week. So to suddenly find over thirty emails from Wes in his inbox, all of them dated on the same day and many of them sent only ten minutes apart, he immediately knew something was wrong. Before he could click on any of them, however, the phone rang, so reaching over and picking it up, Zaidan answered, "Hello?"

"Zaid! Finally!" Wes said. "Do you have any idea how many messages I've left you?"

"I was just checking my email," Zaidan said. "And I can see there's plenty of them." As he said this, he took a moment to analyze his friend's voice. Something didn't sound right, as he could pick up just from the tone that his friend was obviously upset, but there was something else. It was almost as if he was having difficulty talking for some reason, as some of what he'd just said sounded a bit off in terms of pronunciation. Which was strange seeing as how he'd never known Wes to have any kind of speech impediment. "Wes, I can hear it in your voice - what's wrong?"

"My dad knows."

"What do you mean your dad knows?" Zaidan asked, as he furrowed his brow in confusion. "Knows what?"

"That I'm gay."

'Oh shit,' Zaidan thought. He'd had several talks with Wes over the time they'd known one another in which his friend had expressed his complete and utter terror over the idea of coming out to his father. Zaidan knew that was something most gay teens were afraid of and that sometimes they ended up making a much bigger deal out of it then necessary as their parents surprised them and reacted better than they thought they would. That, unfortunately, wasn't always the case though and based on things he'd heard his father say over the years, Wes was sure that the reaction was not going to be good. Zaidan had always hoped, however, that Mr. Collins would surprise his son, but from Wes' tone, Zaidan had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that that wasn't the case. "I take it he didn't react well?"

"He left me," Wes said.

"What?" Zaidan asked.

"In New York - he left me in New York," Wes elaborated. "Threw me out of our hotel suite and said he never wanted to see me ever again. Next morning, he got on his jet and went home without me."

"HE DID WHAT?!" Zaidan exclaimed. He'd known that Wes had been afraid of his father's reaction, but never in his wildest dreams did he think that Mr. Collins would go so far as to abandon his son over two thousand miles from home. Taking a deep breath in an effort to calm down, Zaidan asked, "Wes, I can't believe he did that - how'd he even find out?"

"I went with him to the Erikson shareholder's meeting," Wes answered. "There was a young intern there that I got to talking with. I knew dad had a few more meetings to attend after his business at Erikson, but he didn't consider them important enough for me to come with him. So, he let me go back to the hotel and me being an idiot and thinking dad would be gone for a few hours, I invited the hot intern over and we hooked up."

"Oh fuck, tell me what I'm thinking didn't happen," Zaidan said.

Wes was silent for a moment, before he said, "I can't. Dad forgot a file he needed and came back to get it. Needless to say he wasn't thrilled to walk into my room and catch me with a guy's dick up my ass."

'Definitely not the ideal way to come out to your father,' Zaidan thought, before he asked, "What did he do?" In his head, he couldn't help but wonder if Mr. Collins' reaction had anything to do with why his friends' speech sounded off, because Zaidan had a bad feeling that it wasn't just his friend's emotional state causing the impediment.

"Ordered us to get dressed and then kicked the guy out," Wes said. "Told him I was only seventeen and that if he ever saw the guy's face again, he'd call the police. Guy left in a big hurry and didn't look back." Wes hesitated for a moment, and then said, "When we were alone, he hit me."

"He... hit you?" Zaidan asked, hoping like hell he'd heard Wes wrong.

"Yeah," Wes confirmed. "Backhanded me hard enough to send me flying to the ground - busted my lip and gave me a black eye."

It's a really good thing that Zaidan was alone in his home office, because when he heard this, he could feel anger boiling over inside of him - enough so that he lost control and sent a bolt of lightning flying across the room, where it hit and shattered a vase full of fresh flowers.

Obviously having heard the noise, Wes asked, "Zaid? What was that noise?"

Trying hard to rein in his anger, Zaidan took several deep breaths, before he answered, "Shattered a vase."

"Shattered... you mean?" Wes asked.

"Yeah, I lost control," Zaidan said. "It's a damn good thing your father isn't with me. The way I'm feeling right now, I'm not sure there'd even be ashes left."

After a few moments of silence, during which Zaidan took several more deep breaths to get his anger under control, Wes asked, "Zaid, man, Dad disowned and abandoned me - what am I going to do?"

"You're going to come live with me, of course," Zaidan said as if it was the silliest question he'd ever heard. "I've got three empty bedrooms and you're my best friend - I'm not going to let you live on the streets of New York City."

"And how am I supposed to get to Cali?" Wes asked. "Dad kicked me out with only the clothes on my back. I have a cell phone and twenty dollars in my wallet - cause I'm sure by now he's cancelled my credit cards. In fact, knowing him that would have been the first thing he did after slamming the door in my face."

"Leave that to me, Wes," Zaidan said. "Just meet me in the alley behind the pizza parlor we went to on Saturday."

Zaidan hung up the phone before Wes could say anything. Pressed for time and figuring it was good practice, Zaidan used his powers to clean up the mess he'd made - he also didn't want to try and explain it to Greg. A shattered vase could be easily explained away by claiming he'd accidentally knocked it over, but that wouldn't explain the charred flowers. Once that was done, Zaidan visualized the alley he'd told Wes to meet him in, before he disappeared in a flash of purple.

-o-0-o-

Arriving in New York City, Zaidan made sure to appear in a darkened corner of the alley, just in case there was anyone other than Wes present. It wouldn't do for anyone to see him appearing out of thin air, after all. Quickly looking around, however, Zaidan quickly realized that there wasn't anyone in the alley and that included Wes. Of course, Zaidan had no idea where in the city Wes was when he'd called, so, with only about five minutes passing since he'd ended the call, it wasn't really surprising that his friend wasn't there yet. While he waited for Wes to arrive, Zaidan pulled out his cell phone and dialed John Taylor's private line.

"John Taylor."

"Mr. Taylor, it's Zaidan Prince."

"Ah, Mr. Prince, what can I do for you?"

"I wanted to know if it would be possible for you to change my vote on the Erikson deal."

Mr. Taylor was silent for a moment, before he said, "The contracts haven't been signed yet, so, yes you can change your vote. Though I find myself curious why you'd want to as you will make quite a bit of money off this deal."

Now it was Zaidan's turn to be quiet, as he contemplated whether or not to tell Mr. Taylor the truth. He knew the man was trustworthy if his mother had chosen him to manage her assets, as she'd always been an impeccable judge of character. Ultimately, he decided he need a bit more information first, so he asked, "Mr. Taylor, before I answer that, can I ask you a personal question?"

"I can't guarantee an answer, but you can ask."

"How do you feel about same-sex relationships and gay people in general?" Zaidan asked.

That question wasn't even remotely what John had been expecting Zaidan to ask. It was an easy one for him to answer, however. "My youngest daughter is a lesbian and my wife and I are active members of PFLAG if that answers your question, Mr. Prince."

"Yes, it does," Zaidan said. "As to why I asked, well, part of it is that I'm gay and I wanted to know if you'd have any problems with that. However, it also relates to why I want to change my vote on the Bio-Lab/Erikson deal. You see I'm good friends with Bio-Lab CEO Alan Collins' son, Wesley, who like me is also gay. After I came back to California, Mr. Collins found out that Wes is gay and he really didn't react well."

"What was his reaction?"

"He disowned him," Zaidan answered. "That was after he busted his lip and gave him a black eye. As if that wasn't bad enough, he then kicked him out of their hotel room in New York with only the clothes on his back and then went home to Silver Hills without him - leaving Wesley to fend for himself on the streets of New York City with only a cell phone and twenty dollars in his wallet."

"Oh good God," John said. "Even if I wasn't accepting of my daughter's sexuality I would never even think about doing that to her. It's unconscionable that any parent would do that to their own child no matter how they feel about them. Knowing what he did, I can't say as I blame you for wanting to pull out of the deal, Mr. Prince - I'd do the exact same thing, were I in your shoes. Is there anything I can do for the younger Mr. Collins?"

"I've already made arrangements for him to come and live with me in California," Zaidan said. "Although his father has completely cut him off, so, is there any way that I can help him? Financially, I mean?"

"Mr. Prince, you can do anything you want with the funds that have already been released to you," John said. "While it's true that the majority of your mother's estate is still in trust, you have complete control over what you've already been given access to, so if you decide to share a portion of it with young Mr. Collins then there's nothing that says you can't. Although, I would caution you that if he's a minor, it would be difficult to setup a bank account for him without an adult cosigning for the account. And while you are technically an adult due to your emancipation, I doubt you'd find a bank that's willing to let you cosign. Of course, then again, with the size of your accounts, they may be willing to bend the rules a bit. I've been in this business for thirty years and I've seen banks willing to bend their own rules if a customer has a large enough deposit. Which just proves the old saying that money talks."

"So I've noticed," Zaidan agreed. "As for Wes, he's eight months older than me, so, he'll be turning eighteen in two months."

While he was talking with John, Zaidan turned his back towards the entrance to the alley, so he didn't see Wes arrive until he tapped Zaidan on the shoulder. Turning around, Zaidan cringed when he saw Wes' busted and swollen lip. He did not, however, see his friend's black eye, as Wes was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses which hid it well. Zaidan couldn't help but think that was probably a good thing, because he was sure he'd be angry if he'd seen it. Despite the fact that they'd decided they were better off as friends, Zaidan had always liked his friend's eyes, so to see one of them blackened would have likely gotten him angry and the last thing he wanted to do was lose control while he was on the phone with John Taylor.

Holding up a finger to Wes, Zaidan said, "Anyway, Mr. Taylor, I need to be going now, but thank you for answering my questions. If there's anything else, I'll be sure to contact you."

"It's not a problem, Mr. Prince," John said. "If there's anything I can do for you or your friend, just let me know. I'll be more than happy to assist you."

"Thanks Mr. Taylor - goodbye," Zaidan said as he closed his phone and put it away.

"Taylor? That's your trust manager right?" Wes asked.

Zaidan nodded. "Yeah. While I was waiting I decided to call him and punish your father for what he did."

"What did you do?" Wes asked, clearly curious.

"Instructed Mr. Taylor to change my vote on the Bio-Lab/Erikson deal," Zaidan said. "While it would have been profitable for me, I refuse to work with your father on anything after what he did to you. Mr. Taylor said it wouldn't be a problem, so I'm sure it won't be long until your father gets the news that I've changed my mind and will be throwing in with the shareholders who were against the takeover."

"Zaid, while I appreciate you wanting to punish my dad," Wes said, "you have to know this is going to really piss him off."

"I know," Zaidan said with a grin. "Great isn't it?"

Wes didn't share his friend's enthusiasm, however, as he said, "He's a very rich and powerful man, Zaidan - you don't want him as your enemy."

"Thanks for the concern, Wes, but I'm really not worried," Zaidan said. Seeing that Wes obviously wanted to say something, he held up a hand to forestall further comment and added, "As you well know, Wes, I've dealt with enemies that are more dangerous than your father could ever dream of being. If he wants to take me on, he's more than welcome to, but all the money in the world is not going to help him if he hurts you again. Now, are you ready to go?"

Remaining silent for a moment, Wes sighed and nodded. "Yeah, I'm ready. I'm sure it's just my anger with my dad talking, but right now, if I never see New York again it'll be too soon."

Zaidan nodded as he wrapped an arm around his friend, before looking around to ensure nobody was around. Once he was sure they were alone, Zaidan and Wes disappeared.

-o-0-o-

Appearing in a dark corner of one of the unused garage bays at his house, Zaidan said, "Okay, Wes, you know I hired some domestic help."

Wes nodded. "Yeah the last email you sent before my dad found out mentioned that."

"Right, well, obviously they don't know my secrets," Zaidan said. "So, we'll have to change your story a bit. Leave out the New York part."

"Okay," Wes said. "How about Dad disowned me at home in Silver Hills and I hitchhiked to here?"

"Hmm," Zaidan said. "Not sure if it's believable that you hitched across a fourth of Washington state, all of Oregon, and almost a third of California to get here. That's quite a distance, after all, and would mean you'd need to have been disowned a couple days ago, at least - enough so that your busted lip and black eye wouldn't look quite as fresh as they do."

"True," Wes conceded. "Although, couldn't you use your magic and heal them? I mean you did just teleport us from New York, after all."

"Wes, with the exception of teleportation, you know I don't really use my powers very often. Considering their source, I've always hated them, so I don't have a ton of practice. As a result, I can heal myself okay, although my unique physiology helps with that too, but I'm not very good at healing others." With a sigh, Zaidan added, "Honestly, I'm afraid that if I tried I'd do more harm than good and I rather think your face has been harmed enough lately."

"Alright, well, how about he disowned me shortly after we got back to Silver Hills and I called you. You offered to let me stay with you, so, you wired me money for a plane ticket?"

Thinking about that for a moment, Zaidan said, "Yeah, that'll work. We'll have to make it look convincing though. Stay here."

"What are you going to do?"

"Just trust me and stay here."

Zaidan went up to the front door and took a deep breath. "Please let this work," he thought, as he called on his powers and cloaked himself in energy which caused him to fade from view. Reaching out a finger towards the front door, Zaidan grinned when it went right through the door. Concentrating on what he was doing, Zaidan walked through his closed front door and into the house, spotting Greg and Mike sitting at the kitchen island. They didn't spot him, however, and that's exactly why he had cloaked himself as he had, so that he could sneak back into the house without being noticed.

Going into the study, Zaidan dropped the energy and turned his gaze to the phone, snapping his fingers as he did so. A moment later, the phone rang and Zaidan called out, loud enough that he'd be heard in the kitchen, "I've got it, Greg, Mike." Picking up the phone so that it would stop ringing, Zaidan waited for a few minutes, before he hung up the phone and headed out to the kitchen, as he made a show of pulling his keys out of his jeans pocket.

"Hey guys," Zaidan said with a smile, as he entered the kitchen and saw that Greg and Mike were eating dinner. "That was a good friend of mine who just got in down at LAX and I'm going to go pick him up. He'll be staying here for awhile, so, while I'm gone, Greg could you go upstairs and prepare one of the empty bedrooms? I'm thinking the larger one on the front of the house, so not the one that you have to go through the media room to get to, but the other one."

"You're the boss," Greg said with a smile. "I'll just finish my dinner and I'll get right on it."

"Great, thanks," Zaidan said with a smile. "I'll see you in a couple of hours then."

Walking out of the kitchen and out the front door, Zaidan teleported off his front step into the empty garage bay, right next to Wes. "Hey Wes."

Wes jumped halfway across the room and said, "Man, Zaid, don't do that. You trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Sorry," Zaidan said. "Anyway, I've arranged things with my housekeeper. He thinks I'm going to go down to LAX to pick up a friend whose just got into town and will be staying here for awhile. So, what I'll do is go get in my car and drive out to the outskirts of town. Then I'll come back and you and I can go shopping."

"Shopping?" Wes asked.

"Yes, shopping," Zaidan confirmed. "Wes, it's an hour and a half drive from Angel Grove down to LAX, so, we have about three hours to kill. And seeing as how you only have the clothes on your back, it seems to me you're going to need more, so we'll go shopping and get you some luggage, clothes, and other essentials to back up the whole friend coming in from out of town and staying for awhile story. As I rather think that Greg and Mike would find it very odd if you come with nothing, despite the fact that you're staying here for awhile."

Wes really couldn't argue with that logic, so he said, "Yeah, okay. Why don't you just take me with you now though? Why go to the outskirts of town and then I'm assuming teleport back here for me?"

"This is a gated community, Wes," Zaidan said. "There's a guard on duty 24/7. Don't you think it would look a little suspicious if the person I'm allegedly going to the airport to pick up was in the car with me when I left to go to the airport? I mean I doubt that Greg or Mike would ask the guard, as they have no reason to think I'm lying, but its' better to be safe than sorry."

"Yeah, you're right, of course," Wes said. "Okay, then, I'll just stay here and wait for you." At this moment, Wes' stomach grumbled and he said, "And, um, I'm getting rather hungry, so I'd appreciate it if you could hurry it up. I haven't eaten anything since last night."

"You said you had twenty dollars in your wallet," Zaidan said. "I'm surprised you didn't get yourself anything."

"I was saving my money," Wes admitted. "In case I didn't reach you, I wanted to have some money, hoping I could maybe find some really cheap motel for the night."

"In New York City?" Zaidan asked. "It's doubtful you'd find any motel that would cost that little, not to mention one that would let you check in without a credit card." Then remembering that his friend had said his father had kicked him out of their hotel suite the previous day, Zaidan got a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach as he asked, "Wait, Wes, where did you sleep last night?"

Wes sighed, as he looked down at his feet for a moment, before he said, almost under his breath, "On a bench in Central Park."

"Ouch," Zaidan said, before clasping his friend on the shoulder. "Well, don't worry, Wes, we'll get you some food, new clothes, and everything else you'll need. And you'll have a nice, warm, and soft bed to sleep in tonight. Told Greg to make up the largest of my upstairs guest rooms for you. It has a California King bed, a balcony, its own bathroom and a walk-in closet, so, definitely a step up from a park bench."

"Yeah, definitely," Wes agreed. "Thanks, Zaid, I mean it. I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't come and got me."

"Hey, no problem, that's what friends do for friends," Zaidan said with an easy grin. "Anyway, I'd better get going. See you in a few minutes." With that, Zaidan flashed out of sight, as he teleported himself over to the bay that his car was in. Moments later, Zaidan's Jaguar convertible was pulling out of the garage and heading down his driveway.

-o-0-o-

The next morning, Zaidan was coming out of his bedroom and heading for the kitchen, just as Wes was coming down the stairs. He was dressed in some of the new clothes they'd bought for him the previous night and looked pretty good, all things considered, although traces of the purpled swelling of his black eye were now visible even behind the dark sunglasses he was wearing, even if they did cover up most of the damage. Zaidan wished again that he could help his friend, but he still wasn't confident in his ability to use his magic to heal Wes' injuries without causing more harm.

'Just one more reason to start practicing more,' Zaidan thought, even as he smiled and said, "Morning, Wes. Sleep well?"

Nodding, Wes said, "Yeah, the bed was definitely a step up from a park bench." After a moment, he grinned and said, "You know, Zaid, even though you sent me pictures, I'm still in awe of this place. In some ways it pales rather drastically when compared to the Collins mansion, but then I've always thought some of the decor there was too stuffy. This is also fancy, but with a more laidback feeling that I like. Not to mention that it's a pretty damn cool house for a seventeen-year-old kid to own."

"Who are you calling a kid, Wesley?" Zaidan asked, with mock frustration. "I seem to recall that we're the same age."

"For now, maybe," Wes said. "But I'll be eighteen in two months."

"True," Zaidan conceded. "Anyway, shall we get some breakfast? Maybe you can meet Greg and Mike this morning."

The shopping had taken a bit longer than the three hours they'd had to burn and thus they hadn't gotten back in the previous night until after 11 o'clock, at which point Greg and Mike had already gone to bed. Greg had, however, left a note saying that he'd prepped the upstairs room and that he'd made a light dinner for Zaidan and his friend, which he'd plated and left in the fridge wrapped in foil. Zaidan hadn't asked Greg to cook, but he was glad that he'd taken the initiative, especially after Wes eagerly ate his own share of it. Their first stop after Zaidan collected Wes was to go to a fast food restaurant and get some food, but after not eating for nearly an entire day, Wes had a healthy appetite.

Stepping into the kitchen, Zaidan found Mike sitting at the kitchen island sipping coffee and eating cereal. Greg, meanwhile, was fixing his own breakfast and looked up as his employer and his friend entered the room.

"Morning guys," Zaidan said. "This is my friend, Wesley Collins." And then motioning towards them, he said, "Wes this my housekeeper, Greg, and his boyfriend, Mike, my landscaper."

"Nice to meet you," Wes said, as he shook hands with both of them.

It was obvious from their expressions that they'd noticed his busted lip and the traces of a black eye that were visible around the edges of Wes' sunglasses, but before anyone could comment, the phone rang. Standing closest, Zaidan picked it up and said, "This is Zaidan."

"Mr. Prince what the hell are you playing at?" an angry voice demanded from the other end of the line. "We had a deal!"

Recognizing the irate voice as that of Alan Collins, Zaidan was half-tempted to hang up, but said instead, "Yes, Mr. Collins, we did have a deal. However, I find myself completely unwilling to work with homophobic bigots who hit their children and kick them out for no good reason. You knew I was friends with your son. Did you honestly think that I would want to help you with anything after I found out what you did to Wes?"

"And it all becomes clear," Mr. Collins said. "You're a faggot, too, aren't you? And I suppose you've probably fucked that pathetic waste of skin that used to be my son. I suppose he's there with you now? Sharing your bed no doubt."

"Yes, he's here, but he's not sharing my bed," Zaidan said. "I am gay, but Wes and I are just friends. Now, I suggest you forget my phone number, Mr. Collins, because I'm sure I don't have to tell you that the police would be very interested in what you did to your son and I rather doubt you want that kind of publicity."

"Are you threatening me, boy?" Mr. Collins asked. "I did some checking and your measly fortune is nothing compared to mine. I could crush you like a bug with very little effort."

"There are some things in this world that money can't buy, Mr. Collins," Zaidan said. "And if you try anything to hurt me or Wes, I promise you that you will regret it. Goodbye."

As he hung up the phone, Zaidan turned to look at his friend and noticed that he'd gone very pale. One of his hands was clutching the back of one the stools at the kitchen island, hard enough that his knuckles were turning white, while his other hand was clutching his stomach, the way someone that was feeling sick might do.

"Wes, you don't have to worry," Zaidan said.

"How can I not worry, Zaid?" Wes asked, his voice quivering in fear. "My father is a very rich and powerful man. I've seen him take down people who get in his way before and if you changing your vote on the Erikson deal didn't make him mad enough, what you just said on the phone is certain to. He doesn't respond well to threats, Zaidan."

"I'm sure he doesn't," Zaidan said. "But, as I said, don't worry, Wes. I'm not. Your father is a jackass and I'm not going to let him intimidate me. You shouldn't either."

"It's very hard not to," Wes commented. "I'm the one who grew up with him, so I know better than anyone what he's like when he gets mad." Sighing, he said, "I'm sorry I involved you in this, Zaidan. I never should have contacted you and dragged you into my mess."

Shaking his head vigorously, Zaidan pulled Wesley into a hug and said, "Don't ever say that again, Wes. You're my best friend, of course you should have contacted me. You needed help and I'll gladly give it." Noticing their concerned looks over Wes' shoulder, he added, "And I don't think I'm alone in that."

"You're not," Greg said, as Mike shook his head in agreement.

This prompted Wes to look up and turn around to look at his friend's hired help. He'd almost forgotten they were even there. A bewildered look on his face, he asked, "Why would either of you stick your necks out for me? You don't even know me."

"True," Mike said. "But, from your eye and your lip, and what we just heard from Zaidan's side of that phone conversation, we can piece together what happened. What your father did was wrong and Greg and I will do whatever we can to help you."

Greg nodded. "Mike's right, it was wrong. As for why we'd stick our necks out for you, it's because a good friend of ours from high school was beaten to death for being gay. The perpetrator tried to use the gay panic defense, but thankfully it didn't work and he's in prison for second-degree murder. However, ever since then, Mike and I have been very active in the community, helping gay teens and older realize that falling in love is not a crime and that there's nothing wrong with them."

"I accept that there's nothing wrong with me," Wes said. "That's not the issue. The issue is that my vindictive and very powerful billionaire father is not a man that should be crossed. I don't want to drag any of you into this because its' not your problem."

Zaidan shook his head. "That's where you're wrong, Wes. As soon as you called it became my problem and it's one that I'll gladly shoulder. You're my best friend, one of a very few that I've made since my mother died. You've been there for me several times and now I'm going to return the favor whether you like it or not."

"And we're going to help however we can," Greg said, as Mike nodded his head and said, "Ditto."

Wes shook his head and said, "Just so you know, I think you're all crazy to want to help me." With a sigh, he added, "But I appreciate it."

"Don't mention it," Zaidan said. "Now, let's get something to eat. I have to be getting to school and you're coming with me, Wes."

"I am?"

"Yeah, last I checked you haven't graduated yet," Zaidan said. "And you sure as hell can't go back to the prep school in Silver Hills, so you may as well enroll at Angel Grove High with me. Besides, it'll give you the chance to meet my new friends, including Rocky."

Wes smiled. "Alright, let's eat. I want to meet this boyfriend of yours, make sure he's right for you."

Zaidan grinned, "We've only been dating for a few days, Wes, we're not quite to the point of thinking about each other as boyfriends yet."

"Doesn't mean I can't grill him," Wes said with a shake of his head. "You're my best friend, too, Zaid, and as you said, friends look out for their friends."

Zaidan sighed, and with a grin he said, "I've created a monster."

"Zaidan, please, don't joke about monsters," Greg said, as Mike added, "Yeah, it's not really a joking matter in Angel Grove."

"What do you mean?" Wes asked, obviously confused.

"Living here, you'll find out," Zaidan said, before busying himself making his breakfast.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have it, Chapter 4 of 'Breaking the Cycle'. I apologize for the long wait, but I have other stories that demand my attention and for awhile I didn't feel much like writing at all after my mother-in-law lost her battle with cancer in late April. So, what did you think about this chapter? I realize that the rangers weren't major players in this chapter, although I hope the fact that Wes, who will eventually become the Red Time Force Ranger, factored rather heavily into the chapter made up for that, at least a little bit.
> 
> Those of you who follow me on Twitter (@JVascardi) know that I'd intended to post a prequel interlude between Chapters 3 and 4, which would have been set about a month and a half before Chapter 1 and thus doesn't include Zaidan at all and focuses entirely on the rangers. However, I got to writing, and this chapter ended up being finished first. And since it's been so long since the last update, I figured I'd go ahead and post this and make the interlude the next update.


	5. Prequel Interlude, Part One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Author's Note: Well, here's the prequel interlude that I've mentioned on Twitter and at the end of Chapter Four. Please remember that everything here takes place a month and a half before Chapter One. So, Zaidan and Wes don't appear in this and the focus is entirely on the current team of rangers. Enjoy.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Prequel Interlude  
Part One

-o-0-o-

On Saturday morning, Jason came downstairs to find his mother, Pamela Scott, sitting at the kitchen table sipping coffee.

"Morning Jason," she said with a smile.

"Hey Mom," Jason said, returning the smile as he leaned down and kissed her cheek on his way to the fridge for the orange juice. "Where's Dad?" he asked, as he opened the fridge and smiled as he saw several refrigerator dishes stacked up, all marked with tags that read 'For Jason's picnic w/ friends.'

Pamela took another sip of her coffee before she said, "On his way to work - left about ten minutes ago, so, it's just us this morning, Jason."

Grabbing the bottle of orange juice, Jason got a glass from the nearby cabinet and poured himself a glass, returning the bottle to the refrigerator. Taking a sip of his juice he then turned to his mother and said, "Thanks for all the goodies for today, Mom - you're the best."

Pamela smiled and said, "I know." Jason and his mother both laughed at that, before Pamela said, "Seriously, though, Jason, you know I love to cook. So, anytime you want food all you have to do is ask."

Jason smiled. "I know, Mom. I love your food and so do my friends."

Nodding Pamela said, "It's the usual group then, I assume? Zack, Kim, Trini, and that cute boyfriend of yours?"

Jason had never actually come out to his mother, even though he was out to his friends. Now, it wasn't because he'd been afraid of her reaction, as something told him that she wouldn't have a problem with it, which she hadn't. How then did she even know that her son had a boyfriend if he'd never come out to her? The simple truth was that Pamela Scott, in addition to being a very good cook, was also a very observant woman and Jason had learned over the years that it was next to impossible to fool her about anything. To be perfectly honest, Jason wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if his mother already knew or at least suspected that he was a ranger.

The reason that Jason had never come out to his mother though had been two-fold. First, while he did identify himself as being bisexual, Billy was the first guy he'd actually started dating. He'd found plenty of other guys to be attractive, but he'd seen no reason to come out as bisexual because of a few wet dreams and fantasies. The larger reason, however, had been fear that his father would find out. While he'd suspected his mother would be okay with it, he had no such suspicion where his father was concerned. Based on comments he'd heard almost his entire life, Jason had known beyond any shadow of a doubt that Todd Scott would not be okay with his son being bisexual or dating men.

Knowing that his parents enjoyed an open and honest relationship, Jason had opted not to tell his mother when he began dating Billy, simply so that she wouldn't be forced to keep it a secret from his father. Pamela, however, figured it out on her own and one day after Todd had gone to work, pulled her son aside and told him point blank that she knew he was dating Billy and that she was okay with that. She'd even gone so far as to say that she'd always liked Billy and that if she had had to pick a guy for Jason to date, Billy would have been at the top of her list. Pamela had also taken the opportunity to tell her son that she had no intention of sharing his sexuality with Todd, simply because it wasn't her secret to tell and in her words, "What your father doesn't know, won't hurt you."

Nodding, Jason said, "Yeah, Billy will be there, along with the others. Rocky, Adam, and Aisha are joining us too."

"Rocky, Adam, and Aisha?" Pamela asked, her tone confused.

"I haven't mentioned them before?" Jason asked, picking up on his mother's confusion. Pamela shook her head negatively, prompting Jason to add, "Huh, well, the others and I've been hanging out with them for a few months now already. They transferred in from Stone Canyon awhile back and have competed in a few martial arts tournaments at the Youth Center."

Honestly, Jason wasn't all that surprised that he hadn't mentioned Rocky, Adam, and Aisha to his mother. Mainly because he hadn't had the chance to sit down and really talk to her all that much about anything between school, homework, his friends, and, of course, his ever present ranger duties. Jason also tended to not bring his friends to hang out at his house very often simply because he wanted them to be able to act like themselves and not have to hide anything. Which they would have to do if they hung out at the Scott house simply because if Todd found out that any of Jason's friends were gay, he'd never hear the end of it. So, all in all, it was best that they avoided it and thus when they did go over to someone's house it was usually Billy's, Tommy's, or Kimberly's, as their parents were all okay with such things.

"Well, then, I'd best get busy," Pamela said as she stood up and moved towards the cabinets to start getting more ingredients ready.

Knowing what his mom was doing, Jason shook his head and tried to stop her, as he said, "Mom, I'm sure you've made plenty already. Besides, Tommy's mom is sending some food along, as are Rocky's and Adam's."

Pamela shooed Jason out of her way as she said, "Out of my way, Jason Lee Scott - you know what I always say."

All Jason could do was grin as he realized it was futile to try and stop his mother from cooking when she decided that she needed to do so. He also had no trouble remembering what she always said, as he'd heard it more times than he could count over the years. "When it comes to good food, you can never have enough."

"Precisely," Pamela said. "Now out of my way! I've got food to make before your picnic." She busily began arranging the ingredients she was pulling from cabinets and the refrigerator for a moment, making sure she had everything she'd need in easy reach. After a moment, she looked up at Jason and asked, "It's at one, right?"

Jason nodded. "Yeah, it's at one in the park."

"Good. I still have enough time then," Pamela said. "Now, out of my kitchen, Jason, I need to work and I don't need you hovering around."

"Yes, Mom," Jason said as he rinsed his orange juice glass, before putting it in the dishwasher and leaving the room. He'd planned on making himself some toast to go along with his orange juice, but decided that he'd wait until the picnic later that afternoon to eat. Between his mom's cooking, plus that of Tommy's, Rocky's, and Adam's, Jason knew he'd need all the room he could get in his stomach, as he knew from experience that all of their offerings would be so good that you wouldn't want to stop eating.

-o-0-o-

Later that day, Jason and his friends had just finished a game of basketball and were about to sit down to eat the picnic lunch that Jason's mom had fixed for them, when the communicators went off. 

"Again?" Rocky asked, as their friends quickly made some rather lame excuses before running off. "What is up with those strange beeping watches of theirs?"

Shaking her head, Aisha said, "I have no clue." Turning to Adam, she asked, "And you couldn't get anything out of Tommy?"

"Nope," Adam replied. "I turned on all the charm I could muster. I even tried some very intimate touching in his most erogenous zones to try and get him to let his guard down and talk, but he wouldn't. Just gave me the same old lame excuses they always give."

The three friends were quiet for a moment, before Rocky grinned and said, "Hey, maybe they're the Power Rangers."

Aisha and Adam looked at Rocky for about a full minute, before they burst out laughing. Rocky was laughing right along with them, though, as he'd never seriously thought that was the reason.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, the rangers arrived at the Command Center, only to find Alpha was acting more distressed than usual, muttering "Ay-yi-yi-yi!"

"Rangers, Rita has sent down a monster," Zordon said.

This was an old routine for them by this point, so Tommy nodded and asked, "Okay, where? I know it's not the park, since we were just there. Business district?"

Zordon looked particularly grave as he said, "No, this monster isn't in Angel Grove. She sent it down to a small town called Briarwood."

"Briarwood?" Kimberly had asked. "I've never even heard of it."

"I have an aunt who lives near there," Trini revealed. "It's in Oregon."

"Oregon?" Jason asked. "Is Rita losing her touch?"

"This is just speculation, mind you," Billy said, "but I would hypothesize that Rita became annoyed with our tendency to surmount whatever obstacle she sends our way and has thus decided to cease attacking in our immediate vicinity."

"Can the Zords be summoned in Briarwood if we need them?" Trini asked.

"Yes, Trini, the morphing grid is planet-wide," Zordon answered. "So your Zords will respond to you anywhere on the planet."

"Alright then, it's morphing time!" Jason exclaimed, as the six rangers morphed and teleported to Briarwood to fight the monster.

Like all the battles they'd fought with Rita's monsters in Angel Grove, it wasn't long before this latest monster was defeated and the rangers were returning home. What set this particular day apart, however, was that a little under an hour later, the rangers' communicators went off for the second time that day, prompting them to go to the command center again. Since Rita usually only sent down one monster a day, they were thus quite shocked to learn that Rita had sent down another monster, this time to Stone Canyon, California. With no other choice, however, they suited up and went off to battle the monster, defeating it as always. After that there were no further attacks for the rest of the day, but as the rangers would soon learn, it was just the calm before the storm.

-o-0-o-

Bright and early the following Monday morning, the six rangers were on their way to school when their communicators went off again.

"She's sure starting early this morning, isn't she?" Zack asked, doing his best to suppress a yawn, as he still wasn't totally awake for the morning yet.

"Yeah, that she is," Jason said. "Well, let's go."

Teleporting into the command center, Alpha said, "Oh rangers, ay-yi-yi-yi! It's terrible! Oh ay-yi-yi-yi!"

"Alpha, calm down," Trini said. "What's wrong?"

"Rita has initiated another attack," Zordon said. "And further breaking from her established pattern, this time she's sent down more than one monster."

Jason's eyes widened at that as he asked, "More than one monster? How many? Where?"

Zordon looked very grave as he said, "Six of them - two to Angel Grove, one to Stone Canyon and one to Briarwood. She's also sent monsters to Blue Bay Harbor here in California and the sixth to Turtle Cove, another town on the Oregon coast, south of Briarwood."

"Six monsters at once?!" Tommy exclaimed. "Man, she must have had Finster working overtime."

"How are we supposed to fight six monsters at once?" Kimberly asked.

Before anyone could say anything, Zordon said, "It gets worse, rangers." This statement prompted all six of them to turn concerned faces to their mentor, at which point he said, "The monsters that Rita sent down are all monsters that you've fought before."

"Well, that's a good thing, isn't it?" Tommy asked. "That means we already know how to defeat them."

"The problem, Tommy, is that the six monsters she sent all required the Ultrazord to destroy the last time you faced them," Zordon revealed.

After a moment of silence, Trini asked, "Which monsters did she send?"

"Observe the viewing globe," Zordon said, as the rangers turned to do so. "The two monsters currently attacking Angel Grove, one in the park and the other in the business district, are Lizzinator and Hatchasaurus. Meanwhile, the Two-Headed Parrot monster has been sent to Stone Canyon, with Cyclops in Briarwood, the Dramole monster in Turtle Cove, and Samurai Fan Man in Blue Bay Harbor."

"I speculate that it would be prudent to devise a plan," Billy said.

"Indeed," Jason agreed. After a moment of thought, he said, "Alright, the two monsters here in Angel Grove are the bigger threat, so we take them out first..."

Before Jason had a chance to finish his thought, however, the alarms went off.

"What's going on?" Kim asked.

"Rita's just made the Dramole monster grow," Zordon said, as the rangers looked at the viewing globe and saw the now giant sized Dramole rampaging through an unfamiliar cityscape.

"Looks like Angel Grove is going to have to wait," Trini said, as the Dramole fired his energy beam at a skyscraper, sending it collapsing to the ground in a cloud of dust and debris. The rangers couldn't help but wince as they all thought about the fact that Turtle Cove had never been targeted by Rita previously and thus likely didn't have the precautions in place in the event of attacks that Angel Grove had adopted - such as standing evacuation orders for all the skyscrapers in town at the first sign of a possible monster attack.

"Right," Jason said. "It's morphing time!"

"It's too early in the morning for this," Zack mumbled under his breath, even as he took out his morpher and called out, "Mastodon!"

"Pterodactyl!"

"Triceratops!"

"Saber-Tooth Tiger!"

"Tyrannosaurus!"

"Dragonzord!"

As the morphing sequence completed the rangers immediately teleported to Turtle Cove and called for their zords. Jason then decided that with so many monsters to deal with they had no time to waste and immediately said, "I call upon the power of Titanus and the Ultrazord!"

Once the Ultrazord was fully assembled, all the rangers said, "Lock on and fire," as the powerful Zord rolled forward, firing all of its weapons at Dramole, who quickly fell over and exploded. There was no time to rest, however, as Zordon's voice immediately came over the communicators. "Rangers, Rita has made the Two-Headed Parrot grow - prepare for teleportation."

Arriving in Stone Canyon, the rangers once again called upon their zords and formed up the Ultrazord. Unlike the last time they fought the Two-Headed Parrot, this time it didn't even have a chance to attack the rangers as they fired all their weapons and it too exploded, at which point the rangers were immediately teleported again, this time to Blue Bay Harbor to face the Samurai Fan Man. As the others had before him, Samurai Fan Man was soon destroyed and the rangers headed for Briarwood to face the Cyclops monster.

The zords were a bit slower to respond when the rangers called them forth this time around, prompting Billy to say, "We don't normally use the zords this often in such a short period of time. I'm not sure how much of a strain they can take on their power banks without some downtime to recharge."

"Could that be Rita's plan?" Trini asked. "Drain the zords' power reserves?"

"That might explain why the last few monsters haven't put up much of a fight once we arrived on the scene," Zack said after a moment of thought. "Man, since when did Rita get so smart?"

"I don't know," Billy said, before he shook his head and added, "The Ultrazord uses massive amounts of energy - it might be prudent to try and prolong this next battle a bit, to give Titanus some time to recharge before we summon him again."

"Do you think that'll work?" Kimberly asked.

"After being used three times already in such a short period of time?" Billy asked in response. "No, I highly doubt that we'll be able to prolong this battle long enough to give Titanus time to get back to full power, but every minute we can buy him to recharge will still help."

The other rangers nodded, as they began to do their best to delay the final showdown with Cyclops. Of course, the problem with the Cyclops monster was that it could take other forms and so the rangers often found themselves fighting a copy of their own Megazord or Tommy's Dragonzord. Trying to prolong the battle, they refrained from using their more powerful combinations such as Dragonzord Battle Mode or the Mega Dragonzord for as long as they could, until finally they decided they had no choice but to summon Titanus and put an end to this fight. As the Ultrazord rolled forward, firing all its weapons, Cyclops was charging at them in the form of Dragonzord, but quickly fell over and blew up as the ranger's weapons hit him. The rangers had no way of knowing, of course, that this would be a prophetic event.

Teleporting back to the Command Center, the rangers were all immediately asking about their zords. Billy and Alpha were looking over the readings, while Zordon said, "This has definitely but a strain on them rangers."

Billy looked up at this and said, "According to these readings, the repair bays in the zords' hiding places are currently working overtime. Not only fixing the damage done to them in our fight with Cyclops, but also to recharge their power banks."

"How's that going?" Trini asked.

Bill shook his head and said, "Not well. The last four battles have taken a substantial amount of the zords' power reserves. And as we know, Rita sent down six monsters, so we still have two fights left and at this point, I sincerely doubt the zords will have enough power for even one of them, let alone both."

"Aren't they solar-powered?" Zack asked.

"Primarily, yes," Alpha said. "However, after Rita cast a spell to eclipse the sun a few months ago, we upgraded them so that they'd have reserve batteries that they could fall back on in the event she tried it again."

"At the same time," Billy added, "the power bays were also upgraded with larger batteries which could collect solar energy over time and store it, so that the zords' themselves could be more quickly recharged. Those extra batteries can only hold so much, however, and being relatively new additions, hadn't had enough time to get up to their full capacity."

"Is there nothing we can do to restore power to the zords more quickly?" Jason asked.

Billy and Alpha turned hesitant looks on Zordon, as they obviously knew something but opted not to bring it up themselves. With a sigh, Zordon said, "We did install systems which would allow us to recharge the zords more quickly, but it is not without risks. First and foremost because these new systems have not been tested as much as Billy, Alpha, and I would like, but also because of the method the systems employ."

"What method?" Kimberly asked.

"The new systems send a collection beam directly at the sun," Billy replied. "This beam collects solar energy in larger amounts than would normally be possible, but as Zordon said, it isn't without risks. It is possible that Rita would be able to redirect the beam with magic, which could have devastating results if the beam of highly concentrated energy hit a populated area not equipped to deal with it."

Billy remained silent for a minute, giving the rangers time to digest that, before he added, "It's also not a system that can be used often in any event due to the fact that it will cause a period of intensified solar flares each time it's used. Combined with the energy already taken by the beam, I'm afraid that we would ultimately be shortening the lifespan of the sun."

"Shortening the lifespan of the sun?" Jason asked.

"Indeed rangers," Zordon said. "Sol, otherwise known as the sun, is a relatively young star in the grand scheme of the universe and as such has billions of years before it reaches a point where it'll be time for it to die. As it reaches the end of its lifespan it will start getting larger, enough so that it will likely swallow up Mercury, Venus, and quite possibly Earth in time. The concentrated beam will shorten this lifespan. It will still be billions of years before Sol dies and thus not something any of you will live to see, but it will still shorten the sun's lifespan by as much as 50-100 years every time it's used."

"That might not seem like all that much," Billy said, "especially for something that will last for billions of years, but it is still something to be considered nonetheless. Obviously it should be used only as a last resort as it will add up. It's also important to note that if we ever do use it, it's not something that can be done more than once a day. In fact, we'd have to wait for the period of intensified solar activity to cease before we could even think of using it again and that could take days or even weeks to fully subside."

Everyone was quiet for a moment, as they contemplated the ramifications. On the one hand, it would allow them to recharge their zords and bring them back up to full power almost immediately. On the other hand, if Rita caught on to what they were doing, she might be able to use their own technology against them and cause unparalleled destruction. The fact that they'd also be shortening the lifespan of the sun didn't escape any of them, as they had to ask themselves if they really had the right to do that. Yes, their job was to protect the planet and its people, but at what cost? It was definitely a difficult moral question they found themselves facing.

After several minutes of silence, Tommy spoke up. "The way I see it, we really only have two options. One is use the experimental tech to recharge the zords immediately and accept the risk that Rita might be able to redirect the beam, which could cause massive damage and casualties. The other option, is for us to sit back and do nothing while we allow the zords the recharge naturally, which could take several hours, thus allowing Lizzinator and Hatchasaurus to run amok unchecked. Which will cause massive damage and probably casualties. Personally, I know which one I'm leaning towards."

Jason sighed. "So, basically, we have to choose between what might happen and what will happen." Tommy nodded. "I know I'm the leader of the team, but, I think this is the kind of decision that requires a group vote. Your options are the two Tommy presented, as well as the third option of taking the zords into battle as they are now and praying we have enough power left to take out both monsters quickly."

Zack said, "Rita hasn't made them grow yet, so, couldn't we just bring our weapons together and destroy them before she has the chance?"

As if on cue, the alarms went off at that and Alpha said, "Oh ay, yi, yi, yi! Rangers, Rita just made them both grow!"

Zack sighed and said, "Okay, well, that shot my suggestion down the drain."

"Rangers, the monsters are rampaging through downtown Angel Grove," Zordon said. "You need to decide what you're going to do."

"What choice is there?" Trini asked. "We can't allow them to run through downtown tearing down buildings and run the risk of innocent people dying. Despite the risk, I vote we use the collection beam and recharge the zords immediately."

Billy nodded. "I concur with Trini, plus, from the printouts, I can state with certainty that at their current power levels, the zords barely have enough power to get from their hiding places to downtown Angel Grove, let alone actually combine into any form of megazord. Taking them into battle against two monsters at this dangerously low level of power would be suicide."

"For us or the zords?" Kimberly asked.

"Quite possibly both," Billy answered with a grim look on his face. "More so for Tommy, however, due to the already weakened state of his Green Ranger powers."

"Well, then, maybe..." Kimberly began, but was cut off, as Tommy shook his head and said, "Don't even suggest that I sit this one out, Kim. These monsters required the Ultrazord the first time we defeated them, which means you need me to summon the Dragonzord." Looking over at Jason, he added, "My vote is that we use the beam, despite the possible risks."

"I agree with the others," Zack said. "Yes, there's a risk with the beam, but it's practically a guarantee that people will get hurt if we do nothing, so, I vote for the first option."

"Kim?" Jason asked, since she was the only one who hadn't weighed in one way or the other.

With a sigh, she said, "I'll go with the majority."

Jason nodded and said, "Using the beam would be my first instinct, as well. Billy, Alpha, do what you need to do to activate it and recharge the zords so we can blow those ugly sons of bitches up for the second time."

Billy nodded, as he and Alpha went to work on the control panels. Zordon, meanwhile, was looking down at the rangers and feeling very proud of them for making the decision that they did. He was also proud of Jason for not making a unilateral decision and getting the opinions of the rest of his team before he made up his mind. Of course, that did make the upcoming change in leadership harder. He hadn't told the rangers yet, opting to let them find out on their own, but he knew that Jason, Zack, and Trini would soon have to leave and a new leader would need to be chosen.

After a few minutes of inputting commands, a whirring noise could be heard, as several gears came to life deep within the command center. The rangers, minus Billy whose concentration was on the control panel, watched on the viewing globe as a large dish similar to a satellite rose up from the ground near the command center. When the dish had fully risen, the rangers could see six brilliant points of light forming around the edge of the dish which soon afterward expanded into six separate beams which met in the center and shot upwards through the atmosphere.

"The zords' power banks are now at 40%," Billy said, after a moment. "That's up from the 15% they were at previously."

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, up on the moon, Rita laughed. "So, the rangers had a trick up their sleeve, did they? They think recharging their zords is going to help them? I think not. Goldar, Scorpina, go down to Angel Grove and join Lizzinator and Hatchasaurus in tearing up the city, while I summon Lokar."

The thought of attempting to use magic to redirect the beam never even crossed her mind, as she set to work casting the necessary spells to summon Lokar to Earth.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so here's Part One of the Prequel Interlude. I hadn't originally planned on splitting this, but it's been awhile since I updated this and I've been preoccupied with my three stories in the Harry Potter fandom as of late, and thus, haven't had the chance to write much on this one. So, I figured I'd split this interlude and give you something for now, at least. Hope you enjoyed it.


	6. Prequel Interlude, Part Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Author's Note: Well, here's part two of the prequel interlude that I've mentioned on Twitter and at the end of Chapter Four. Please remember that everything here takes place a month and a half to a few weeks before Chapter One. So, Zaidan and Wes don't appear in this and the focus is entirely on the current team of Rangers. Enjoy.

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Prequel Interlude  
Part Two

-o-0-o-

"60%," Alpha said about a minute later.

"I thought you said the beam would recharge them immediately," Jason said.

"Perhaps immediately was the wrong word," Billy said. "However, the zords are recharging much faster than they would have if we'd let them alone to do it naturally. That would have taken at least twenty-four hours, whereas now, they're at 85%."

The alarms went off again and the image on the viewing globe switched to a scene of downtown Angel Grove, where everyone could see that a giant-sized Goldar and Scorpina had joined the two monsters in carving a path of destruction through town. At the same time, news reports were airing asking where the Power Rangers were and why they hadn't shown up to meet the threat to Angel Grove yet. One network was even showing recorded footage of the Rangers battling Cyclops in Briarwood and asking if the Rangers had abandoned Angel Grove to help other cities instead.

"Abandoned? We would never abandon anyone in need!" Trini exclaimed, clearly not liking what the reporter was implying.

"Don't worry about it, Trini," Tommy said, as he put a hand on her shoulder. "That particular reporter loves to stir up trouble. I think he must either be sleeping with the head of the network or he's related to them, because otherwise I can't think of a single reason that they'd keep him around considering how often he outright lies on the air."

After a moment of silence, Zach asked, "Guys, how are we going to handle two monsters plus Goldar and Scorpina all at once?"

"That's a good question," Kim said. "I highly doubt that they're just going to stand back and let us take them out one at a time."

"It might be prudent to concentrate on Goldar and Scorpina first," Billy said. "They tend to flee when it looks like they're losing or if they've taken too much damage, so, if we can eliminate them, then we'll have a better chance of dealing with the other two."

Jason nodded. "Yes, that could work. How are the zords coming, Billy?"

"They're at 100%," Billy answered. "And all the backup batteries are at 50% capacity. I would speculate that if we wait another two to three minutes before disengaging the collection beam all the backups will be at 100%."

"Can that help us in the battle?" Trini asked.

"Yes, Rangers," Alpha said. "With some modifications, I can siphon power from the backups directly into your zords, thus keeping you at full power for a longer period of time."

"I think we're going to need every advantage we can get," Jason said. "So, we'll wait."

-o-0-o-

Three and a half minutes later, the Rangers teleported in and called for their zords, with Jason, Zack, Trini, Kim, and Billy bringing theirs' together to form the Megazord, while Tommy called for the Dragonzord. They were soon double-teaming Scorpina, or at least attempting to, because as Kim had predicted, Goldar, Lizzinator, and Hatchasaurus were not standing back and letting them take one fight at a time. It was the hardest battle they'd fought thus far and four against two were not the best odds.

"Alpha, we need more power," Jason said, as the Megazord fell over after a particularly brutal hit from Goldar's sword.

"Working on it, Rangers," Alpha said, as Lizzinator kicked the downed Megazord in the chest, causing it to roll over onto its back, at which point Hatchasaurus jumped up and body slammed it.

Seeing that his friends were in trouble, Tommy played a tune on his flute that made Dragonzord stop attacking Scorpina and go after Hatchasaurus instead, who was currently lying on top of the Megazord and repeatedly attacking it with its beak. The Dragonzord's tail hit Hatchasaurus' left shoulder at the same time that Jason called for the Power Sword, which came down and embedded in the ground as it usually did, grazing Hatchasaurus' right shoulder as it did so. These simultaneous injuries dislodged the monster from Megazord, giving it enough time to stand up and grab the sword.

Almost immediately the Megazord was once again on the defensive side of things as Goldar attacked, which brought the Power Sword into play as it was used to block the attack. Meanwhile, Lizzinator and Scorpina began to double-team the Dragonzord, which was soon falling to the ground as Hatchasaurus recovered, stood up, and moved in to join Goldar.

"We need to rethink our plan," Trini said, as the Megazord was buffeted by a brutal attack from Goldar. "Because it's not working."

"Dragonzord Battle Mode?" Zack asked. "That should allow us to take out Goldar or Scorpina more quickly."

Jason nodded. "Good thinking, Zack."

Moments later, the zords changed into Dragonzord Battle Mode and prepared to attack Goldar. Before they could, however, the sky darkened and Rita appeared on a nearby fire escape, taunting the Rangers. "Think you're going to win this, Rangers? I don't think so. Lokar, attack!"

The Rangers all cringed when they heard the name because trying to fight Lizzinator, Hatchasaurus, Goldar, and Scorpina all at once was bad enough, but dealing with Lokar on top of them? Their chances of winning this fight had just gone from bad to worse and they knew it. Before any of them could react, Lokar appeared and attacked them at the same time that the other four attacked. It was too much for their zords to handle and Jason said, "We're going down."

The Rangers soon found themselves falling from the cockpit. This included Tommy, who was very rarely inside the cockpit of any of the megazord combinations, usually standing on top of a nearby building controlling the Dragonzord with his flute. However, with his powers in a weakened state, Zordon had ordered him to start joining the other Rangers in the cockpit, since it would provide better protection than standing out in the open would.

As the Rangers fell, Rita laughed maniacally as she raised her staff and shot a stream of lightning out of it directly at Tommy, who was almost immediately screaming as intense pain wracked his entire body. The attack was more than his fragile powers could take and as he continued to fall, he demorphed. Unfortunately, this happened in the middle of Rita's attack and he was repeatedly struck by her lightning without any Ranger powers to protect him.

"Tommy!" Kimberly cried out as she saw what was happening.

"Bro!" Jason exclaimed, as Rita ceased her attack, just before Tommy hit the ground. His limbs were twisted at odd angles and he was completely unresponsive as the other Rangers ran over to him. "Alpha! Get us out of here this is an emergency!"

"Oh ay-yi-yi-yi," Alpha's voice came over the communicators. "I can't get a lock on Tommy. Rangers, you'll have to grab onto him so we can get him out of there."

All of the Rangers immediately reached out their hands and grabbed some part of Tommy. The physical contact did the trick and soon the Rangers were beaming out, back to the Command Center. When they arrived, however, it wasn't where they expected to be.

"Where are we?" Trini asked, as she looked around, confused.

"The medical bay," Zordon said, as he appeared nearby. The tube here was much smaller than the one he appeared on in the main room of the Command Center. "The Command Center has always been equipped with one, but until now, thankfully, none of you have ever been injured badly enough to warrant using it."

It was at this point that the other Rangers took off their helmets and turned to look at Tommy. They all gasped when they saw him, because his skin appeared to be burned, blistered and covered in blood. Nearby, Alpha was running some kind of device over Tommy and said, "Ay-yi-yi-yi, Tommy has high voltage electrical burns all over his body, in addition to several broken bones, including five ribs, one of which has punctured his left lung."

"Oh my God," Kimberly said, as she covered her mouth with her hand, aghast at what she was hearing.

"Zordon, we have to help him!" Jason exclaimed.

Zordon looked grave as he studied the information that Alpha's scans were picking up and said, "Rangers, I'm afraid that Tommy's green ranger powers have been completely destroyed."

Only Billy seemed to understand what that meant and managed to speak up before any of the others could complain that Tommy's powers weren't what they should be worrying about at the moment. "Guys, the reason none of us has ever been injured badly enough to need this med bay before is because our powers protect us, but they also heal us." With a shake of his head, he added, "I'm afraid that without his ranger powers to help heal him, Tommy's injuries are too extensive."

Alpha piped in at this to add, "The damage you can see to his skin is minimal compared to the damage that he's suffered internally. He has severe damage to his subdermal tissues and several of his organs are beginning to shut down."

Zack looked stricken as he asked, in a tight, emotion-filled voice, "Are you saying that Tommy is dying?"

Shaking his head, as he refused to believe what he was hearing, Jason said, "No! There must be something we can do, Zordon! If Tommy needs ranger powers to help him heal then he can have mine! I'm not letting my bro die if I can do anything to prevent it. Save him, please!"

Billy wrapped his arm around Jason's waist and pulled him close, trying to provide as much comfort to his clearly distraught boyfriend as he could. Of course, he was also trying to comfort himself, as well, as Jason's touch had always had a calming effect on him.

Zordon remained quiet for a moment, before he said, "That won't be necessary, Jason. Unbeknownst to any of you, over the past few months, Alpha and I have been preparing for the eventual loss of Tommy's powers. We've been hard at work creating a set of new ranger powers for a new White Ranger."

"So give them to Tommy!" Trini exclaimed, not wanting to see her friend die anymore than any of the others.

"The new powers aren't ready yet," Alpha said. "We could rush them into use to save Tommy's life, but we haven't tested them enough to know if they're truly viable yet."

"We'll worry about their viability later," Kimberly said. "Saving Tommy's life is more important right now."

"You are correct, of course, Pink Ranger," Zordon said. "Alpha, prepare the power transfer."

"Yes, Zordon," Alpha said, as he began pushing buttons on a nearby console.

-o-0-o-

Extremely worried about their injured teammate, the Rangers refused to leave the Command Center. The fact that Rita had recalled her monsters helped, as Angel Grove was no longer under attack, at least for the moment. It was strange for Rita to stop an attack, but perhaps she'd accomplished what she set out to do. Everyone knew that she was angry about her hold on Tommy being broken and him using the Green Ranger powers against her, so it was certainly conceivable that her entire plan for this attack was to destroy them and kill Tommy in the process. The other Rangers were sure that she was probably up at her palace on the moon celebrating the destruction of the powers and the end of Tommy's life.

Sadly for Rita, however, any celebrations on her part were premature. Zordon and Alpha successfully transferred the new White Ranger powers to Tommy and with the help of the new powers, his injuries had begun to heal. When they'd last gotten an update on his condition, he was still badly injured, but he was no longer in danger of dying. Billy was holed up in the med center with Zordon and Alpha, keeping watch over Tommy, but also helping to keep an eye on his power levels. Zordon and Alpha both believed that the powers hadn't reached the optimum level of completion to be given out. Obviously they didn't have a choice in the matter, but they both worried that pressing the powers into service too soon would cause problems in the future.

The rest of the Rangers were currently gathered in another room in the Command Center that they hadn't known existed until today. It was a large common room with seven doors leading off of it. One of those doors led out to the Command Center proper, while the others led to private sleeping quarters, one for each Ranger. Apparently Zordon had built the Command Center to have rooms for every possible situation, including one that would require the Rangers to stay at the Command Center for an extended period of time. Thus, they each had their own sleeping quarters so that they could still get the necessary amount of sleep even if it was too dangerous for them to go back to their homes.

Standing up from his place on the sofa, Jason walked over to the small kitchenette and refilled his glass of lemonade before coming back over to sit with his friends. As he sat back down, Kimberly was saying, "Tommy is going to be alright."

Trini nodded and said, "Yes, we just have to stay positive."

"Tommy is tough," Zack agreed. "He'll pull through this."

"I think Adam should be here for him," Jason said after a moment, as the others turned to look at him. "I know we're not supposed to tell people that we're the Rangers, but there has to be exceptions. It wasn't that long ago that Tommy was," Jason gulped, before he said, "on his death bed. Thankfully that danger has passed, but he's still injured and I know if it was me, I'd want Billy at my side."

"I suppose having his boyfriend here might help him heal," Kimberly said. "I know I've always heard that having your loved ones around when you're in the hospital is a good thing."

"True, but can we trust Adam?" Trini asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, I definitely like him and he and Tommy are great together. But this isn't your standard run-of-the-mill secret we'd be entrusting him with."

"You know I've sometimes wondered why Zordon wants us to keep our identities a secret," Jason commented. "I mean, Rita and her goons have known practically since day one who we really are."

"Yes, but can you imagine what would happen if people knew the truth?" Kimberly asked. "We've all seen how many people here in Angel Grove treat the Rangers like they're big time celebrities. While that may be fun at first, I think we'd all get tired of the recognition after awhile."

"That's probably true," Zack agreed. "Although, certain people knowing would certainly make life easier. For example, if Mr. Kaplan had known that we were the Power Rangers, I don't think he would have given us detention that time. Or at least let us out early during the monster attack that we ended up being late for since we couldn't just teleport out with Bulk and Skull there."

"Wouldn't that be using our Ranger status for personal gain though?" Trini asked.

"I don't think getting out of detention early to save the city is personal gain," Zack argued. "Especially considering that it was Bulk and Skull's fault we were in detention to begin with."

"True, Mr. Kaplan came in at the wrong time and slapped us all with detention even though Bulk and Skull were the only ones who actually deserved it," Kimberly agreed. "However, as I said, I'm not sure I'd want people to know honestly. The celebrity would be fun for a little while, but you'd also have no privacy ever and I don't even want to imagine my parents' reaction."

"True," Trini agreed. "I doubt my parents would be thrilled about me risking my life on a near daily basis, even with the Ranger powers to protect me. Especially now, because if they found out that Tommy nearly died, well, I think we can all agree that our parents would be less than thrilled with Zordon for making us Rangers, without seeking their permission first."

"Permission they would never have given, I might add," Jason said. "As for trusting Adam, I think we can definitely trust him. Yes, we'd probably have to tell Rocky and Aisha so that he doesn't have to keep secrets from them, but I think in the months we've known them, they've all proven to be trustworthy."

After a few moments of thought, Kimberly nodded. "Yeah, you're right, Jase. Question is will Zordon allow it?"

"Will I allow what, Pink Ranger?" Zordon asked, as his face appeared, hovering over a small holographic projector.

"I think we should tell Tommy's boyfriend," Jason said. "I know that means trusting him with the secret that we're the Rangers, but I think having Adam with him would be good for Tommy's recovery. Plus, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha are undoubtedly wondering where we're constantly disappearing to."

Zack nodded. "Yes, we do spend quite a bit of our off time with them, more so than with anyone else in Angel Grove and they've all heard our communicators going off several times now."

"We told them they were watch alarms," Trini said, "but that lie can only last so long, before they begin wondering. I mean with the six of us running off to do what is presumably some sort of group activity, I'm sure they're feeling left out or wondering just what kind of activity we're actually doing."

"I've seen them exchanging frustrated or curious looks," Zack said. "I'm sure it's only a matter of time before they ask us point blank and then what do we do? Lie to their faces?"

While it was true that the rule about keeping their identities as Rangers was clear, Zordon had never intended for it to be set in stone, as he understood that circumstances could arise in which the secret had to be shared. He could also understand why the Rangers thought their friends should be told and agreed that the power of Adam's love would be beneficial to Tommy in his current state. Of course, possessing a certain level of clairvoyance, Zordon was also aware of certain future events which he wasn't sharing with the Rangers that would necessitate telling these three friends of theirs'.

They'd be learning the secret a bit earlier than they had in the future Zordon had foreseen, but he was confident they could still be trusted, so nodding, he replied, "That wont' be necessary, Black Ranger. You have my permission to tell them and bring them to the Command Center."

"Thank you, Zordon," Jason said with a smile, as he said, "Kimberly, Trini, you're with me. Let's go round up Adam, Rocky, and Aisha. Zack, stay here and keep an eye on Tommy and Billy for me."

"You got it," Zack said, as Jason and the girls stood, before hitting the necessary buttons on their communicators and teleporting out in streams of red, yellow, and pink.

-o-0-o-

It took a bit of time for Jason, Trini, and Kimberly to track down their three friends, but eventually they found them all at the Youth Center's juice bar, all enjoying a smoothie. Going over to them and engaging in a few moments of small talk, it was then time to corral their friends to a more secluded area where there could be no possibility of anyone overhearing what they were about to say. This was, of course, easier said than done, as Adam, Rocky, and Aisha didn't understand what was going on or what this secrecy was about, but trusting their friends, they got up, paid for their half-finished drinks, and followed Jason, Trini, and Kimberly out of the Youth Center.

Arriving at Billy's house, which Jason had a key for and decided was the safest since Billy's mother was out of town visiting her sister and his father would be at work for another four hours, Adam finally asked, "What's going on? What couldn't you tell us at the Juice Bar?"

The three rangers shared a look, before Jason said, "I know you've noticed that we," motioning to himself and the girls, "and Tommy, Billy, and Zack keep disappearing at odd times."

"Yeah, we've noticed," Aisha said.

"Are you finally going to tell us what that's about?" Rocky asked. "You've used some pretty lame excuses, but it's pretty obvious that you're lying."

Adam nodded. "Yeah, I agree. Which, honestly, hurts, especially since I've tried everything I can think of to get Tommy to tell me the truth and he always avoids or changes the subject. Considering that we're dating, that really hurts even more."

"You have to understand that we don't want to lie to you," Trini explained. "However, the reason we haven't told you the truth is because we were told not to by our mentor and we agreed not to tell anyone."

"Your mentor?" Aisha asked. "Mentor in what?"

Taking a deep breath, Jason said, "We're the Power Rangers, three of them anyway."

Adam, Rocky, and Aisha just stood there silently for a few moments, before all three of them burst out laughing. After a moment, they calmed down and Rocky said, "Good one guys. I was just joking with Adam and Aisha that maybe you were the Rangers earlier today, but how about you tell us the truth now?"

"That is the truth," Kimberly said. "We really are the Rangers. I'm the Pink Ranger, Trini is yellow, and Jason is red."

"Billy is the Blue Ranger," Jason added. "And Tommy and Zack are the Green and Black Rangers, respectively."

"That's just not possible," Aisha said with a shake of her head. "You're all teenagers. How could you possibly be the Power Rangers? It just doesn't make any sense."

"And Angel Grove constantly coming under attack by an evil space sorceress and her minions does make sense?" Jason countered. "I know it's hard to believe, but I swear we're telling you the truth."

Adam, Rocky, and Aisha all shared a look, before they turned to their three friends and in perfect unison, said, "Prove it."

The three rangers were silent for a moment, as they contemplated how they could prove it, before finally they each pulled out their power morphers and held them out to their friends. Jason said, "See?"

Adam rolled his eyes. "Oh come on, you're going to have to do better than that, Jase. I've seen things very much like that in practically every store in Angel Grove that sells toys."

Jason groaned, as he hadn't thought of that. "Well, then, I guess we have no choice. It's true that you can buy things very similar to these at a toy store, but can they do this?" Jason paused, for a moment, before he said, "It's morphing time."

Holding their morphers out in front of them, Trini called out "Saber-Tooth Tiger," as Kimberly said, "Pterodactyl," and finally Jason said, "Tyrannosaurus." As the morphing sequences began and the three of them were soon standing there in multi-colored spandex uniforms with helmets covering their heads.

Reaching up and undoing the clasps of his helmet, Jason took it off and grinned at his slack-jawed friends, as he asked, "Do you believe us now?"

"Holy shit," Rocky said after a moment of obviously trying and failing to find his voice. "You... you really are the Rangers."

"Yeah, we are," Trini said, as she and Kimberly removed their own helmets. "As for our mentor, his name is Zordon and he's the one who selected us to be the Rangers and gave us our powers. We did have to agree to three rules however and those were that we could not escalate a battle unless the enemy forced us to, that we can't use our powers for personal gain, and that we can't tell anyone we're the Rangers."

"So why are you telling us?" Adam asked. "I know we were curious about your constant disappearances and it hurt that you apparently didn't trust us, but if you can't tell anyone..."

"Zordon gave us permission to tell you," Jason answered. "As for the why, well, our last battle with Rita's monsters didn't go so well and Tommy was very badly injured."

"How badly?" Rocky asked, as he clasped a hand on Adam's shoulder, to give support to his friend, who he knew loved Tommy quite a bit.

It was Kimberly who answered. "Badly enough that his Green Ranger powers were completely destroyed and he demorphed, at which point Rita hit him with a bolt of lightning from her staff for several seconds. Without ranger powers to protect him, he suffered burns and blisters to his skin, and massive subdermal tissue and organ damage... enough so that several of his organs began shutting down."

Shaking his head, as tears came to his eyes, Adam said, "Are you saying that Tommy is dead?"

Trini quickly stepped forward and pulled Adam into a hug as she said, "No, he's not dead. His injuries were fatal, but only without Ranger powers, as they help to heal us from any injuries we sustain."

"But you said his powers were destroyed," Aisha pointed out.

"Tommy's powers have been growing weaker for awhile now," Jason explained. "I don't know if you're familiar with his history as a Ranger, as this was before you came to Angel Grove, but the Green Ranger started out as our enemy. Rita kidnapped Tommy, placed him under a powerful spell, gave him the Green Ranger powers and tasked him with destroying us. He very nearly did, but in the end, we managed to break Rita's control over him and he began using his powers against her."

"Obviously she didn't like that," Kimberly said, as she took over the tale. "So, she devised a spell to enchant a green candle to steal the powers back from Tommy when the candle burned out. It did, but unfortunately, before the powers could be lost to her, Tommy gave his power coin to Jason and thus Rita couldn't steal the powers. In time, Tommy regained his powers, but they were considerably weakened and couldn't be used for prolonged periods without starting to fail. This last attack was too much and they were finally destroyed."

"Okay, but that still doesn't answer how Tommy isn't dead without Ranger powers to help heal him," Rocky said. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he's not dead, but I don't understand what's going on."

"Zordon and his assistant, a robot named Alpha," Jason said, "knew that Tommy's powers wouldn't last forever, so they began developing a new set of powers, the White Ranger powers. They weren't entirely finished yet as Rita's attack forced us to put them into use ahead of schedule and we don't know what kind of long-term side effects that might have, but the important thing is that the powers were able to heal Tommy's injuries to an extent that he's no longer in danger of death. When we left the Command Center, he was still in the medical bay in an induced healing coma, but he's still alive and will recover."

"Can I see him?" Adam asked.

Trini nodded, as the three Rangers put their helmets back on and Jason raised his wrist to his lips and contacted the Command Center, since while the three Rangers could initiate teleportation at the push of a button, Adam, Rocky, and Aisha could not. "Alpha, six to teleport."

"Locking on now, Rangers," Alpha said, before the six teens teleported out of Billy's house, with three streams of white joining the streams of red, yellow, and pink.

-o-0-o-

Over the next few weeks, Tommy made a full recovery. He did end up having to spend the night in the med bay at the Command Center, but that was explained away by Tommy telling his parents that he'd spent the night at Jason's house, which he'd done several times in the past. And luckily for Tommy, his adoptive parents did not really socialize that often with Jason's parents, so they weren't really worried about them getting together and realizing that Tommy was lying about where he'd been all night.

As the weeks rolled by, flyers were soon going up at Angel Grove High School advertising for the International Teen Peace Summit in Geneva, Switzerland, which was being sponsored by the United Nations, and that three delegates would be selected from among the student body. Those three students would then go to Switzerland for the remainder of the school year to participate in the Summit, exchanging ideas with teens from all over the planet about how to achieve lasting international peace. Assignments would be emailed to them, so attending the Summit wouldn't get them out of studying, but there would be teachers on hand in Switzerland who spoke English to help them if they needed it and being a delegate at the Summit counted as extra credit towards the Social Studies graduation requirements.

Being among the best students in the school, mostly thanks to Billy's tutoring, all of the Rangers signed up, never thinking, however, that they would actually be among the chosen three, as they knew that half the school was signing up, as the thought of leaving school and going abroad for several months was very appealing. Of course, some of the students signing up were doing it because they thought it would be a great opportunity to travel and meet people from all over the world, while others were doing it simply to get away from their parents for several months. Thus, when the news came in that Zack Taylor, Jason Scott, and Trini Kwan were the final three picks as delegates, they were all left somewhat flabbergasted.

The first thought in Billy's mind, of course, was that with Jason going to Switzerland for several months, that they'd have to deal with a long-distance relationship. Billy wasn't sure if that was even possible, but when he voiced his concerns to Jason, the red ranger made it quite clear that he loved Billy and would do everything in his power to keep their relationship strong, despite the thousands of miles that would be between them. He did then, however, offer Billy an out, if he didn't feel like he could do the same, but Billy, who had loved Jason for longer than Jason had loved him, refused to take the out given to him.

The next big concern, however, which had Zack, Trini, and Jason all contemplating turning down the offers of being delegates, was their Ranger duties. Yes, attending the Summit would be fun and was a great opportunity, but it rather paled in comparison to keeping the city they'd grown up in, and the planet as a whole, safe from Rita and her minions, especially since following the introduction of the White Ranger, Rita had begun stepping up her attacks, making them much more frequent and continued to attack cities other than Angel Grove in the hopes that it would keep the rangers off balance enough that they'd lose eventually.

Unfortunately for Rita, thus far that had proven to be untrue, as the Rangers had managed to meet every challenge she set them, regardless of whether it was in Angel Grove, Stone Canyon, Briarwood, or anywhere else. This was especially true thanks to the powerful new Zord that had been added to their arsenal in the form of Tommy's new White Tigerzord, which was formidable on it's on, but when combined with the other Ranger's zords, it was more than enough to stop Rita's monsters in their tracks. Of course, as it was feared, there were issues with the White Ranger powers, as pressing them into service before they were ready had caused them to suffer from intermittent unreliability. The chances of this happening increased during prolonged battles of more than say twenty minutes. Tommy found it annoying, obviously, but he was used to it from his experiences with the Green Ranger powers.

Billy, Zordon, and Alpha all put their heads together and were attempting to fix the issues with the powers, but unfortunately it seemed that every time they thought they'd managed to fix one issue, two more would crop up. So, it was definitely annoying for more than just Tommy, but none of them regretted pressing the powers into service early, as they all agreed that the current issues with them were a small price to pay in exchange for Tommy's life. Obviously, none of them agreed more with this statement than Tommy himself who was very thankful to still be alive.

As for the Peace Summit, Zordon made the decision for the three Rangers, telling them in no uncertain terms that they would not decline the offer of being delegates as this was a fantastic opportunity for them and he refused to allow them to miss out on it simply because of their responsibilities as Rangers. When asked how the team could possibly survive with only three Rangers, because Trini said she highly doubted they'd be able to continue performing their duties from Switzerland despite being able to teleport, Zordon announced that the three departing Rangers would accompany the three staying on one final mission.

They were to journey to a distant planet, known only as the Deserted Planet, and retrieve from the ruins of the once great civilization that had existed there a powerful sword with which Jason's, Zack's, and Trini's powers could be transferred to three new Rangers. Intrigued by the idea of undergoing their first mission off planet, the six rangers agreed. Now, obviously Rita noticed their departure from Earth and while she was tempted to attack it and hopefully take Earth over while they were gone, she was also aware of the reason for their departure and decided that stopping them from transferring the powers was top priority. So, she sent several monsters, including Goldar and Scorpina, to the Deserted Planet to stop them, but like the other times, the Rangers managed to outsmart and outmaneuver Rita's plans.

Upon their successful return to Earth, the Rangers questioned who would be taking the places of the three departing Rangers, as that had been something Zordon had refrained from mentioning before they left. They were all surprised, but at the same time pleased, when Zordon revealed that he'd chosen Adam Park, Aisha Campbell, and Rocky DeSantos as the replacements. Of course, there was also the leadership of the team to consider, as until now Jason had been the leader and Zordon felt that while Rocky was more than capable of handling the red ranger powers, it wouldn't be fair to foist the leadership role of the entire team on him at the same time. And thus it was that Tommy was declared to be the new leader of the Rangers, before the powers were successfully transferred.

Not long afterward, the Rangers, both old and new, were saying goodbye to their former teammates and friends, as the time arrived for Jason, Zack, and Trini to depart for the Summit. There were lots of hugs, tears, and between Billy and Jason, quite a bit of frenzied goodbye kissing. Of course, Jason's and Billy's goodbye, which they both insisted was temporary, was kept behind closed doors or only in front of their friends and Billy opted not to accompany his boyfriend down to Los Angeles International to see him off, because obviously Jason's parents would be present. And since Jason wasn't out to his father and Billy remembered Jason telling him about his mother's warning that Todd Scott would not react well to the idea of his son being bisexual and dating a guy, he opted to stay away, for fear he wouldn't be able to control himself and accidentally out his boyfriend.

And so it was that Jason, Zack, and Trini left for the Peace Summit, while Tommy, Kimberly, Billy, Adam, Aisha, and Rocky continued the task of keeping Angel Grove and the world safe from Rita and her minions.

-o-0-o-

The End...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...well, that is, for the Prequel Interlude. I hope you've enjoyed this trip into the past, as some important information was revealed. In the next chapter, we'll be returning to the present, which means Zaidan and Wes will return to the fold. Questions, comments, suggestions? Please feel free to contact me either through a review, email, my Yahoo Group, or on Twitter.


	7. Chapter Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
By J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter Five

-o-0-o-

Pulling into a parking spot in the student lot, Zaidan put his Jaguar in park, before he turned to Wes and asked, "You ready for this?"

"As ready as I'll ever be, I guess," Wes replied. "You know I've never attended a public school in my life, right?"

"With all your father's billions, I can't say as I'm surprised. But, it's not all that different really. Okay, that's probably a lie as the public school system here in Cali has nowhere near the funding that the prep school in Silver Hills had. Although then again, when the yearly tuition for every student is six figures you're pretty much guaranteed to have better funding than pretty much any public institution of learning in the world."

Wes nodded, before he said, "Um, what about my eye and my lip? Somehow I don't think they're going to let me wear sunglasses in class."

"Hmm, well, the lip is pretty much impossible to hide," Zaidan agreed. "As for your eye, well, we may have to tell Mr. Kaplan how you got them, but I'm sure I can convince him to write you a note, giving permission for the sunglasses, at least until your eye heals."

"Whose Mr. Kaplan?"

"The school principal. He's a strict man, but I think he's also a fair man. I haven't dealt with him much, but from what my friends tell me, I think he's generally a good and caring person. And if he proves less than willing to agree that you should be able to wear sunglasses, well, I can always give him a little magical nudge. It wouldn't be the first time."

"What do you mean it wouldn't be the first time?" Wes asked, and even from behind the sunglasses, Zaidan could see the eyebrow over his friend's uninjured eye arcing upwards.

"Well, it's nothing drastic. He was just a little leery about my enrollment, because I'd attended so many different schools and I don't think he's ever had an emancipated teen at the school before. So, I think he was unsure how to respond to the situation and was probably wondering just why I'd attended so many schools."

Wes grinned. "He probably figured you were some sort of problem child and was debating whether he wanted to deal with you or not."

Zaidan lightly punched his friend in the arm for the comment, even as he was saying, "Yeah, you might be right. Anyway, I gave him a little nudge with my magic and he forgot his concerns. It's not like he could argue with my grades, which I've never used magic to alter, so all the A's were earned. Anyway, shall we get inside and get you enrolled?" Looking at his watch, "We came a bit earlier than necessary, so we should be able to get done before first period."

"Yeah, I guess, let's go," Wes agreed, as they got out of the car and headed towards the building.

-o-0-o-

In the end, Wes was successfully enrolled at Angel Grove High School and Mr. Kaplan did write him a note for all his teachers, telling them he had permission to wear his sunglasses in class, at least until the swelling around his eye went down. Mr. Kaplan had thought that the police should be called because Wes had been assaulted, but Wes refused to press any charges, because as he explained to the confused principal, he had no proof. Since they were alone when the assault happened, there'd been no witnesses and thus it was only Wes's word against his father's. It was at this point that Wes said he rather doubted that the police would take his word for it, with no witnesses to back him up, versus the word of his influential, billionaire father.

Now it had to be said that Mr. Kaplan had been surprised to learn that Wes was the son of a billionaire, because obviously they didn't get many of those in public school, but Wes figured it would be impossible to hide. Especially since AGHS would undoubtedly need to contact the extremely expensive prep school in Silver Hills to transfer over Wes's academic records. Zaidan didn't have to do all that much magical prodding on the principal, although a gentle nudge had been required to make him drop the idea of calling the police and for the sunglasses permission.

What Zaidan had not used any magical prodding for, but was nonetheless happy about, was when Wes was put in all the same classes as him, as at least they'd be together. Of course, it was also a load off Wes's mind because he could rely on Zaidan to show him where everything was, because Wes rather disliked the idea of being seen as the confused and bruised new kid who didn't know where the hell they were going. He still ended up getting quite a few sympathetic looks from teachers and students alike, but he could deal with that.

After school, Wes got into Zaidan's Jaguar with him and they drove over to the Youth Center. As they were entering, Zaidan explained, "You've got to try the smoothies here. They're like heaven in a glass."

"Okay," Wes said, as they approached the counter and placed their drink orders: Strawberry-Mango for Zaidan and Mixed Berry for Wes. Ernie had looked a bit surprised to see Wes's obviously busted lip and the swelling around his sunglasses, but otherwise didn't comment. When he brought their drinks, however, he did insist that Wes's drink was on the house and refused to take no for an answer about it.

"Hey Zaidan," Tommy greeted, as he came over to the table that Wes and Zaidan were seated at, along with Adam, Billy, Kimberly, and Aisha. "Who's your friend?"

Zaidan didn't have any of his classes during the same periods as the others, so he wasn't all that surprised that they didn't know Wes, because while many of the teachers had him stand in front of the class and introduce himself, that obviously didn't do much good for those who weren't in the room for it.

"Wesley Collins, but you can call me Wes."

"Nice to meet you, Wes," Tommy greeted, as he shook Wes's hand, before turning a chair backwards and sitting down, with Adam seated nearby.

"Where's Rocky?" Zaidan asked. "Wes wanted to meet him."

Wes nodded, "Yeah, if my best friend is going to date this Rocky guy, well, I gotta make sure he's alright."

"His parents and grandfather are working late tonight," Adam explained. "And his grandmother is sick at the moment, so they had to call a neighbor over to take care of his younger siblings until he got out of school, since they all get out an hour earlier than we do. Anyway, he had to go straight home to relieve the neighbor."

Zaidan nodded and while he didn't say anything, he had to admit that he was impressed by Rocky, more and more. He was kind of goofy from time to time and he clearly liked having fun, but he could be responsible when he had to be, like when it came to taking care of his younger siblings. Having lost his own, Zaidan knew how important family was and thus he had a definite respect for those who had good relationships with their own families.

"What happened to your eye and lip?" Kimberly asked.

"My father found out I'm gay," Wes answered. "He didn't react well."

Kimberly let out a frustrated noise, as she stood up and stalked over to the bar, with Aisha following, while Wes looked after them, his wide eyes hidden behind his sunglasses.

Tommy just shook his head. "They're both okay with gay people, Wes, so don't worry about it. Kim is just a bit frustrated because lately it seems all the guys she thinks are cute end up being gay or bi, but dating men."

"Oh," Wes responded, not sure what else to say.

Adam laughed. "Yeah, first there was Tommy. Next was me and Rocky. Then Zaidan and now you. It's unlikely to help that her first boyfriend, Jason, is dating Billy now."

"Damn," Wes acknowledged. "Yeah, I guess I can see how that could give her something of a complex."

"Yes, but she's really very nice," Billy said. "She undoubtedly just needs a moment to acclimate herself to yet another inordinately cute guy who prefers the male persuasion."

"Inordinately cute?" Wes asked, who did know what the word meant, thanks to the snooty and verbose teachers he'd had at the prep school and all the other expensive private schools he'd gone to over the years. "Even with my busted lip and a black eye?"

"Affirmative," Billy confirmed, before he blushed slightly, and added, "I may be taken, but I'm not dead, so I can look as long as I refrain from touching."

Wes nodded. "So when do I get to meet Rocky and Jason?"

"I'll make sure you and Rocky meet soon," Zaidan said. "As for Jason, that might be awhile because he's in Switzerland at the moment."

"Yeah, he and two of our other friends, Trini and Zack, were named as delegates to the International Teen Peace Summit in Geneva," Tommy explained. "So, Billy here has been pining for his boyfriend a bit."

"Hey, I can't blame him," Zaidan commented. "I've seen pictures of Jason, including one with no shirt on, and if anyone is inordinately cute, then it's definitely him."

Recognizing the teasing tone in Zaidan's voice, Wes lightly slapped his friend's arm and said, "Are you trying to say I'm not, Zaid?"

Zaidan grinned. "That's precisely what I'm saying."

"Ouch!" Wes exclaimed, with a feigned look of hurt on his face, although it wasn't quite as effective as it might have been if he hadn't been wearing dark sunglasses that hid his eyes. "See if I let you see me naked ever again."

"I've already seen it, thanks... wasn't that impressive."

"Double ouch!" Wes exclaimed again, as he slapped Zaidan's arm, a bit harder this time, before Zaidan burst out laughing.

When he finally got a hold of himself, Zaidan apologized, "Sorry, Wes, but I couldn't resist. Anyway, you are cute, there's no denying that and you've got a hot body, but I've moved on with Rocky. We're not really officially together or anything yet, but..."

"But you want to be," Wes completed and Zaidan nodded. "So there won't be any more fooling around for us. Damn, I guess I'll just have to be content with my hand."

"That was never a problem with any of our past fooling around, Wes," Zaidan said with a grin.

Looking over at the others, Wes said, "I think we're confusing them."

"Wes and I fooled around a bit," Zaidan explained. "When we were at the same prep school for awhile. We never went all the way into full-blown sex, however, just hand jobs."

The girls both blushed a bit at this comment, although the boys at the table grinned, which probably wasn't all that surprising from a group of teenage boys.

"Ah, okay," Tommy said, as he couldn't help but think that he wouldn't mind seeing Zaidan or Wes without their clothes on. He was very happily dating Adam, but as Billy had said, he wasn't dead, so he could still appreciate a good-looking guy.

"Anyway, I'm digging the haircut, Tommy," Zaidan said.

"Thanks," Tommy said, who had now gotten his hair cut. It wasn't a buzz cut, like he'd often got when he was younger, but it was definitely a lot shorter than he'd had a few days ago, as it was no longer shoulder length and he'd opted to add some gel and spike it. "I figured it was time to get it cut, because even tied back it was becoming a nuisance, especially during martial arts practice."

"Or while teaching our advanced class," Adam said. "Personally, I did kind of like the longer hair, but I like this look too."

"Adam, you'd like any look so long as it was on Tommy," Aisha said in a playful tone as she and Kimberly came back over to the table.

"Well, I wouldn't say any look," Adam said. "I wouldn't approve of him dying his hair pink, for example."

"Hey there's nothing wrong with pink," Kimberly said.

"No, but can you imagine Tommy with pink hair?" Adam asked with a grin.

"I see your point," Kimberly admitted.

"Yes, well we don't have to worry about this," Tommy said with a shake of his head, "'cause I'm not dying my hair pink, now or ever."

"Of course not, because that would look ridiculous," Zaidan said, even as he began plotting a way to prank Tommy by getting pink dye in his hair somehow. He didn't dislike Tommy or anything, but he didn't see anything wrong with some harmless fun and a good laugh.

-o-0-o-

Later that day, around six pm, Zaidan and Wes were lounging on chairs beside the pool in Zaidan's backyard, when Greg came out of the house and said, "Hey Zaidan?"

"Yeah Greg?"

"Rocky just called," Greg relayed. "His mom just got home from work, so he's off babysitting duty and he's on his way over to see you. Said he'd be here in about twenty minutes."

"Thanks Greg," Zaidan responded.

"No problem," the housekeeper said, as he headed back inside, at which point Wes turned to his friend, "You know, I've gotta admit Zaid, you've done pretty damn well for yourself. You've got some pretty cool friends, some of whom are very easy on the eyes, and you've also got a pair of smoking hot guys on your payroll and living in your house. How do you rate?"

"Just lucky I guess."

"I guess," Wes parroted back. "Seriously though I wish Dad would have hired some hot young guys to work at the mansion. I mean don't get me wrong, I like Phillips, and I guess one or two of the maids are pretty nice, but eye candy they're definitely not."

"Maybe not for you," Zaidan said. "But assuming that your father had any hand in hiring the maids, he probably thought they were eye candy."

"Eww, Zaid, please don't go there," Wes choked out, as his whole face scrunched up in a grimace of distaste, as he didn't want to think about his father having desires of any kind. Thankfully, he'd held a bag of frozen peas on his eye not that long ago, so it was still numb enough that the movement didn't irritate the swollen and bruised flesh. 'I'll be so glad when this thing heals,' he thought.

"You're the one who brought it up," Zaidan pointed out. "And besides, your father clearly didn't suspect that you were gay and he definitely isn't, so why would he hire a bunch of young, hot guys to work at the mansion?"

"Okay, okay, I get your point."

Zaidan grinned. "Sucks when I'm right, doesn't it?"

"Don't get used to it," Wes grumbled, before taking a sip of his raspberry lemonade.

After this the two of them fell into a companionable silence, as they relaxed poolside. They'd both finished up their homework for the day when they'd gotten home from the Youth Center. Wes had to admit he was a little surprised at the challenging nature of some of his homework, because after going to expensive private schools his entire life, he hadn't really expected the curriculum at a public high school to be challenging, although then again he had to admit that he really hadn't known anything about public schools, so perhaps it was an unfair assumption or just the prejudices of his father and rich classmates that had influenced his thinking.

Nineteen minutes after Greg relayed the phone message to Zaidan, Rocky came out of the house with a grin on his face, calling out, "Hey Zaidan."

"Hey Rocky," Zaidan responded, from his place on a lounge chair, as Rocky came over, fully intending to lean over and give Zaidan a kiss. It was then, however, that he noticed the occupant of the other chair.

"Oh hey," Rocky said. "I didn't know you had company, Zaidan. Whose your friend?"

"Rocky DeSantos meet Wesley Collins," Zaidan said. "He's an old friend of mine from the prep school I went to in Silver Hills, Washington. Wes, this is Rocky."

"A pleasure to meet you, Wes," Rocky held out his hand for the other boy to shake.

Wes took a moment to look Rocky up and down with a critical eye, before he took Rocky's hand and shook it, while looking past him and saying to Zaidan, "Damn you, Zaid, you've got good looking friends, hot help, and an even hotter boyfriend. I'm really very jealous."

Rocky blushed crimson at this comment, as he clarified, "Zaidan and I aren't really boyfriends."

"Yet, but you both want to be," Wes corrected, and neither Rocky nor Zaidan could deny that was true. They were still in the getting to know one another stage and they'd only been on a couple of dates, but they both knew they wanted each other, even if they hadn't made it official yet.

As Rocky and Wes let go of each other's hands, Zaidan said, "Wes is going to be living with me for the foreseeable future. You've probably noticed his eye and lip."

"Yeah, it's kind of hard to miss. What happened?"

"My father's fist," Wes answered. "He caught me in bed, being fucked by a guy. Obviously he wasn't thrilled, so he hit me, disowned me, cut me off, and threw me out on the street."

"Damn, that sucks," Rocky sympathized, although he had to admit that he had fears of something similar happening to him if his parents found out that he was gay. They were devout Catholics, after all, and the Catholic Church really did not speak kindly of such things.

"Yeah, it does, but thankfully Zaidan is letting me crash with him." Wes shrugged as he sat back down on the chaise lounge he'd been on, but kept his feet on the ground. Zaidan and Rocky, meanwhile, sat side by side on the chaise Zaidan had been lying on, facing Wes.

"So how long have you two known each other?" Rocky asked.

"Not too long," Wes answered. "We met at the prep school, as I said. Zaidan stayed in Silver Hills for about six months, before moving to San Francisco and then here, but we've stayed in touch. So, all in all, I'd say about a year and a half?"

Zaidan nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right. Wes and I really hit it off though and became good friends. We were in a lot of the same classes and we both participated in the martial arts activity that the prep school offered, not that it was worth much. Anyway, it was also a boarding school and while all the students had their own private rooms, Wes's and mine were next door to each other, so we spent a lot of time together."

"Why do you say the martial arts activity wasn't worth much?"

Wes grinned. "Picture a class full of spoiled rich kids who've had everything handed to them their entire lives. Most of them expected to put in no effort and just be given their belts, oh and don't even think about touching them during class, as they'll be contacting their lawyers to try and sue you for assault."

Rocky looked like he was having a hard time picturing that, which made Zaidan laugh, as he added, "Tommy had pretty much the same reaction when I told him. Anyway, Wes and I made the best we could of the class, but that did make us both a bit unpopular with the others, because we were actually attempting to earn our belts. Breaking a sweat was unpopular with most of them, so they tended to shun us. Me more so than Wes, of course."

"Not wanting to break a sweat," Wes interjected, "there wasn't much eye candy in the class, let me tell you. Definitely not much in the way of ripped muscles and rock hard abs. I'm not saying they were all fat and ugly, but none of them would win any beauty contests."

"Why would they shun Zaidan more?" Rocky asked, with a genuinely confused look on his face.

"Because my father is a billionaire several times over," Wes said. "In that school, about the only thing that could get you respect was the size of your trust fund or the amount of money you stood to inherit when your parents kicked the bucket."

"At the time, I thought I only had about 35 million dollars total to my name," Zaidan explained. "Even now knowing I have quite a bit more than that, compared to Wes's father, whose worth something like 15 billion, I'm downright poor. The only people who got even less respect then I did were the kids who were attending the school on full scholarships - because they couldn't afford it otherwise."

"And were there many of those?" Rocky asked.

Wes shook his head. "No, there were only ever five at a time. It was the school's rather poor attempt to be seen as being less of an elitist society, by giving free rides to a few students who could never even dream of attending otherwise, because the tuition was almost double their parent's combined yearly income. One such student that I talked to fairly often was named Eric Meyers. He didn't really want anything to do with me, but we were lab partners in Chemistry, so we had to talk to each other, although to be honest he had a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas."

"I still think you were crushing on him though," Zaidan added with a grin to his friend.

"Yes, he was cute," Wes agreed. "And as a scholarship kid, he wasn't afraid of hard work so he was also attempting to earn his belt, rather than expecting someone to just give it to him. But, that didn't make Zaidan and I any more popular in his eyes, because he resented that we were rich and he wasn't."

"True. We never tried to rub it in his face, but he always found a way to make it seem like we were, even if we weren't."

"Seems like he wasn't a very pleasant person to be around," Rocky commented.

"He could be nice, when he wanted to be," Wes said. "It just seemed to be a rare occurrence that he wanted to be. Of course, I haven't spoken to him since he left the school, not that long after Zaidan did, so I couldn't say if he's changed since or not."

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, across town at the Oliver household, Tommy was lying on a chaise lounge on the back deck, with Adam lying between his legs, the back of his head resting against Tommy's chest. They'd just finished eating a delicious steak dinner with Tommy's parents and were waiting awhile before Amelia brought out dessert. Taking a sip from her wine glass, Amelia smiled at her son and said, "You two really do look so cute together."

"Mom," Tommy whined.

"Amelia, you're embarrassing the boys," Matthew said, with a shake of his head, although turning to his son, a small smile came to his face, as he added, "I do have to admit, however, that you do make a very handsome couple."

Tommy rolled his eyes, "Thanks Dad." His father's comment still kind of embarrassed him, but at least he'd said handsome instead of cute.

"I admit that I imagined a scene like this several times over the years," Matthew continued, "although in my imagination you weren't with a boy, Tommy, but I doubt there's many parents who imagine that their sons will give them son-in-laws."

"Dad, we're not married," Tommy pointed out.

Matthew laughed, "I know you're not, son," even as Amelia asked, "Do you plan to be?"

"Amelia," Matthew said, at the same time as Tommy complained, "Mom, we're not even out of high school yet."

"So?" Amelia asked in an innocent tone. "I knew I wanted to marry your father when I was a year younger than you two are now."

"We haven't discussed marriage, Mrs. Oliver," Adam said.

"Now, now, Adam, none of that," Amelia said. "So long as you're dating my son I insist you call me Amelia. I'd prefer Mom, of course, but Amelia will work."

"Okay, Amelia," Adam corrected himself with a small smile, choosing to use her first name because calling her Mom just didn't feel right to him, at least not yet. "Tommy and I haven't discussed it and at this point, we honestly have no plans to get married. Right now, all we want to do is graduate high school and get into college."

"Besides which Adam and I can't get married," Tommy reminded his parents. "Not legally anyway."

"Well, whether it's legal or not," Amelia continued, "you can still have a ceremony." At the look both boys gave her, she relented. "Okay, I'm sorry, I'll drop it. I just want you to be happy Tommy and I can see that Adam makes you very happy."

"He does," Tommy smiled, as he leaned down slightly and kissed the top of Adam's head.

"And you clearly make Adam happy," Matthew added.

"He definitely does, yes," Adam agreed.

Taking another sip of her wine, Amelia then changed the subject, "What about your parents, Adam? I'd like to meet them at some point. I'm sure they must be wonderful people to have raised such a good son as you."

"Um, Mom..." Tommy began, before Adam shook his head and said, softly, "My parents don't know."

"Don't know what, son?" Matthew asked.

"That I'm bisexual or dating Tommy," Adam answered. "They... they wouldn't approve."

"Are you sure?" Amelia asked. "Tommy was afraid that Matthew and I wouldn't approve, especially because of the whole Don't Ask, Don't Tell thing," she turned to her husband at this and said, "I swear, Matthew, I don't know what the government was smoking when they made that law, but it's the stupidest thing I've ever heard of. As are all the so-called arguments I've heard on the bases you've been stationed at over the years. Undermine unit cohesion my ass - they said the same thing about black people and it obviously wasn't true."

Matthew smiled at his wife, "I know, dear, I know and privately I agree with you. However, I'm only an Army Captain and you know I have to fall in line and do what my superior officers tell me to do, no matter how much I might disagree. Trust me there's quite a few of them that I'd like to slap upside the head, or in the case of some of them knock them on their asses since they've made it clear that's where they keep their brains, in the hopes it'll drive some sense into them, but obviously I have no desire to be court martialed, so I don't do it."

"I've heard both my parents say things over the years," Adam revealed, after a moment of silence. "Things which make me sure that they would not welcome the idea of me dating a man, reinforced by their religious beliefs pushed by the priest at their church. Could they refine their beliefs if forced to?" Adam hesitated and then continued, "Maybe, but I feel safe in saying that it would take a very long time and that they wouldn't want anything to do with me in the meantime."

Due to this, there would probably be many people who would think it was pretty stupid of Adam to take Tommy to his house after their date the day Zaidan was kidnapped with the intention of having sex. And it probably was, honestly, but it was something that Adam only did because he knew his parents were gone for the weekend. If he'd thought there was any possibility that they'd come home and find him with Tommy, he never would have done it.

Amelia sighed. "That's another thing I just don't understand. A parent is supposed to love their child unconditionally, so I don't get how they could even think about disowning their child for no good reason."

"I agree with you, dear," Matthew said, "but I would point out that many people think homosexuality is a good reason."

"Then they're idiots, plain and simple," Amelia said emphatically. "There's simply no other explanation. As a mother, and I really don't care that Tommy isn't our biological son, I could never even think about turning my back on him over something like whom he was dating. It would just never happen," and here she tipped her wine glass upwards as she drained what remained in it. Setting the glass down, Amelia looked at Tommy, "I love you, Tommy, I hope you know that."

Tommy smiled. "Yes, Mom, I know. I love you, too. And you, too, Dad. You've been the best parents I could ask for."

"And you're the best son we could have asked for," Matthew said, firmly. "All we ever wanted was for you to find every happiness in this life, so if Adam makes you happy then your mother and I couldn't be more thrilled."

Amelia smiled and stood. "And on that note, I'm going to go get the cake." Turning to her husband, she added, "Matthew, come in the house and get the ice cream."

Matthew nodded, but remained silent, as he stood and followed his wife into the house, leaving Tommy and Adam alone on the deck. Turning his head on Tommy's chest so that he could look up at his boyfriend, "Your parents are so cool."

"I know they are," Tommy said with a smile, before he leaned down and planted a kiss on Adam's lips.

-o-0-o-

The following day, after school, Wes, Zaidan, and the rangers headed over to the Youth Center as they usually did. There was a martial arts competition going on, with a $100 prize going to the top place finisher. Tommy, Adam and Rocky all signed up, as did Aisha. Unfortunately, the morning of the competition she sprained her ankle and had to bow out. This, of course, left an opening in the competition roster, so the rangers convinced Zaidan to put his name in as a last minute replacement. Zaidan agreed, but only so long as Aisha agreed to take the prize money if he won.

Tommy, Adam, Rocky, and Zaidan all made it into the semi-finals, with the organizers opting to pit Tommy and Adam against each other, with whichever of them won facing off in the final round against the winner of the Rocky/Zaidan match. The organizers of course had no way of knowing that they were making two romantic couples fight each other, but none of them minded, as they all saw it as good practice and thus they gave it their all. The first match was close, but Tommy won over Adam by 1 point, while Zaidan managed to pull off an impressive enough move near the end of his match with Rocky to let him win by 3.

"Go Tommy!" Adam cheered on his boyfriend from the audience, as Tommy landed a particularly impressive kick that knocked Zaidan off his feet.

Zaidan was quick to get back up and soon sent Tommy falling to the mat, but the match was still tied going into the final minute. Then just as time was about to run out, Tommy managed to get Zaidan down to the mat and earned himself another point, just as the timer ran out. "Tommy Oliver wins," the judges announced a moment later, as they handed him a trophy and a $100, which he planned to give to his mother to pay her back for the money she'd lent him for his date with Adam. Or at least, he would try, as he had the feeling she wouldn't take it.

"Good match, Zaid," Tommy said as he shook hands with the blond afterward. "You really kept me on my toes."

Zaidan smiled. "Same here."

"Yeah, you're damn good," Rocky said as he clapped Zaidan on the back in a congratulatory gesture.

"Thanks, Rocko," Zaidan said. "You were really good though, too." Looking around at his friends, he grinned, before calling Ernie over and saying, "Smoothies for all my friends, Ernie, on me."

"You got it, Zaidan," Ernie called back, as he then proceeded to take the drink orders, before heading behind the bar to get started.

It was as they were heading to a table to sit down that Zaidan noticed Aisha walking a bit too well for someone with a sprained ankle. This obviously prompted him to say, "Aisha, you didn't sprain your ankle did you?"

Aisha looked a bit sheepish at being caught, but nodded, "No, I didn't."

"So why did you say you did?" Zaidan asked.

The yellow-clad girl smiled, "I wanted to see you compete and I knew it was the only way you could, since the signups for this competition closed before you arrived in town."

Zaidan shook his head. "You shouldn't have done that. There'll be plenty of competitions in the future and I probably would have signed up for them."

"Well, what's done is done, Zaidan," Aisha said. "Besides, I doubt I would have been able to beat Tommy in a one-on-one matchup, so don't feel bad."

"Yeah, he is quite hard to beat, isn't he?" Zaidan asked with a grin.

"Well, Adam came pretty close," Kim said. "Only person I've seen get that close to beating him before was Jason."

"And now obviously Zaidan," Billy added. "I surmise that Jason will want a shot at you when he gets back, Zaidan."

"I look forward to it," Zaidan assured, just as Ernie brought over a tray with their drinks.

Of course, they'd all only just taken their first sips, when the rangers' communicators beeped.

"What's that noise?" Wes asked.

"Watch alarm," Tommy said as he and the others stood up. "Sorry, we've got a prior engagement we've got to attend to."

"Again?" Zaidan asked to the rangers' retreating backs.

"This has happened before I take it?" Wes asked.

"Yeah it has," Zaidan answered. "It almost makes me wonder..."

Before Zaidan could finish that sentence, however, the whole building shook and someone shouted "Earthquake!"

A moment later, Ernie called out, "Not an earthquake. Monster attack."

"Monster attack?" Wes asked, his tone incredulous.

"Yeah," Zaidan said. "You remember how Greg and Mike told me not to joke about monsters?" Wes nodded, at which point Zaidan added, "Well, that's why."

Looking where his friend's finger was pointing, Wes turned and looked at the TV above the bar, where they were airing a news report live from downtown Angel Grove that showed a giant creature that looked like some sort of a weird cross between a squid and a donkey walking on its hind legs, shooting beams of energy out of its tentacles, as it fought with a giant robot wielding a sword.

"What the bloody hell?" Wes asked, as his eyes widened to the size of dinner plates and his mouth dropped open in shock.

"Welcome to Angel Grove, Wes," was all Zaidan said in response.

-o-0-o-

Later that night, Zaidan and Wes were alone in one of the basement storage rooms of Zaidan's house. Well, it had been meant to be a storage room, but since his kidnapping by Rita, Zaidan had modified it and turned it into a training room where he could go to practice with his magic in the hopes of getting better control. He had no illusions that he'd ever be able to be strong enough to go up against Rita in a one-on-one battle, because he was a realistic person. Zaidan was, after all, only 17, whereas Rita Repulsa was over 10,000 years old and thus there was simply no possible way for Zaidan to get as much practice as she had over the millennia.

As Wes sat off to the side of the room watching Zaidan attacking a training dummy with lightning and other magical attacks, Wes said, "So, let me get this straight. Angel Grove is the home of a team of spandex-wearing superheroes called the Power Rangers who fight in large mechanical dinosaurs against the creations of a millennia old space witch hell bent on conquering Earth?"

"Pretty much, yeah," Zaidan confirmed, as a stream of lightning left his fingertips and succeeded in disintegrating the training dummy. Concentrating for a moment, however, Zaidan waved his hand and restored the dummy, trying to make it better able to withstand his attacks as he did so, before going back to attacking with fervor, as he attempted to combine his martial arts with his magic.

"That is so... trippy."

Zaidan laughed. "Yeah, I guess that's one word for it."

"So why would you choose to live in such a place, Zaid?" Wes asked, after a moment. "I mean considering your past, I'd think you'd have run in the other direction as soon as you found out."

"Honestly? A part of me wonders that too," Zaidan confirmed. "But, I don't know, there was just something about Angel Grove, something that told me I should stay put and stop running. And, of course, there's Rocky and my new friends."

Wes nodded, "Yeah, I guess I can understand that. Life constantly on the run can't be much fun."

"No, it isn't," Zaidan agreed. "I've been running ever since my mother, brother, and sensei died. Yes, part of it was because I didn't want anyone finding out I was on my own and getting Child Protective Services involved, but I was also afraid to put down roots anywhere. I was afraid if I stayed in one place too long, I might... I don't know, it's probably stupid."

"It's not stupid to care about people, Zaid," Wes said. "I know you've often felt that you somehow failed your family and sensei, that you could have done something to save them or that it was somehow your fault they died to begin with. I don't get that by the way. From what you've told me, I just don't get how you think you're responsible. It was your jackass of a father that's to blame and nobody else. As for your magic, beyond learning control and mastering a couple of things like teleporting, you've gone through life trying to deny you even had it."

Wes fell silent for a moment, before he asked, "Honestly, Zaid, if you don't think you can use it to heal something as minor as a black eye and a busted lip without causing more damage, it's really pretty stupid for you to beat yourself up that you didn't use it to save your family and sensei from dying. I doubt you could even if you wanted to."

Zaidan sighed. "Yeah, you're probably right." After a moment, he grinned and asked, "When did you get so smart, Wes?"

"I blame years of overly priced private education," Wes answered, before he grinned himself and added, "And you know, from what I've seen now of public school, I just can't help but think that it would really burn my Dad if he knew that the work I'm doing for free at AGHS is almost identical to the work at all the schools he paid so much for."

Zaidan laughed. "He doesn't like wasting money does he?"

Wes shook his head. "No, he doesn't. He absolutely despises spending money on anything that he doesn't have to. So, if he knew that I could have gotten just as good of an education at AGHS for free as I was getting at the prep school, he'd be furious."

"I doubt he'd think it was good enough, though," Zaidan said. "How can it be when AGHS doesn't offer any classes that will teach you how to be a corporate raider?"

"I really don't want to be a corporate raider," Wes responded affirmatively. "I suppose if there's a bright side to my father finding out that I'm gay and disowning me, it's that I'm now free to pursue what I actually want, rather than what he thinks I should want."

"True enough," Zaidan acknowledged, as he finished up his practice session for the night. "Well, that's enough for tonight. I for one need a hot shower and my bed."

"Yeah, sounds good," Wes agreed, as they left the training room, Zaidan taking care to lock the door, before they got on the elevator and hit the buttons for the 1st and 2nd floors.

-o-0-o-

Half-an-hour later, Zaidan was still in the shower, as he was greatly enjoying standing under the hot spray and letting the water cascade down his body, relaxing tired muscles. On top of his training session, he was also a bit sore from the competition earlier in the day, as it had been a while since he'd competed. The others had all taken a shower in the locker room at the Youth Center, although Zaidan chose not to because he tended to avoid communal showers, uncomfortable with the thought of anyone seeing him naked. So far, Wes was the only one who had, with the possible exception of his mother when he was much younger, but like most teenagers he did his best not to think about such things.

'Definite advantage to magic,' Zaidan thought, as he couldn't help but realize that the hot water probably would be nearing running out by now if it wasn't for him using magic to make sure it didn't. Stepping out of the spray and grabbing the shampoo, Zaidan squirted a liberal amount of it into the palm of his hand, before he began lathering his hair. After a moment, he lowered his hands from his head and grabbed a washcloth and the bar of soap and began washing his body, as he allowed the shampoo a few minutes to do its conditioning thing, before rinsing it out.

Finishing up washing his body, Zaidan stood under the hot spray again, rinsing out the shampoo and then stayed there for a moment longer, the palms of his hands resting flat against the wall of the shower stall, as he again took a moment to just enjoy the water cascading over him. After a few more minutes, however, he knew it was time to get out, so turning off the water, he opened the stall door and stepped out.

"It's about time you got out. Were you trying to turn yourself into a prune?"

Not expecting there to be anyone in his bathroom, Zaidan whirled around to face the source of the voice, almost slipping in the process and forgetting that he was completely naked, as he shouted, "Damn it, Wes, what are you doing in here?"

Wes, who was leaning against a nearby wall, wearing nothing but a pair of white boxer-briefs and a light blue button-down shirt that he'd left completely unbuttoned, just grinned at his long time friend, as he looked him up and done and said, "Enjoying the show, what else?"

"Wes, you know I've moved on."

"I know," Wes huffed. "That doesn't mean that I can't still enjoy looking at your naked body, Zaid. I don't know why you're so self-conscious about other people seeing you naked, because trust me you've got nothing to be ashamed of."

Zaidan fixed Wes with a serious look, "You know damn well why I don't let people see me naked." After a moment, in which he realized that Wes was now staring at his genitals, he added, "And hello, news flash, you're looking at the reason."

Waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, Wes said, "Oh that? Yeah, it's different, I'll give you that, but as I've said countless times before, not in a bad way. Honestly, I think there's plenty of people who would be more than a little jealous."

Zaidan shook his head as he grabbed a towel and began drying himself off. "Jealous? Yeah, right. Would that be before or after they call me a freak?"

"Anyone who would call you a freak because of that," Wes said, as he pointed a finger at Zaidan's privates, "has a very strange definition of the word. I think it's wonderful, personally. In fact, I almost regret the fact that we never went all the way, because now it means I'll never get to have the experience."

Zaidan raised an eyebrow, "I thought you thought you couldn't take it?"

"I'm still not sure about that honestly," Wes admitted. "But for the experience, I'd be willing to suffer through it. And honestly with enough lube I don't think there'd be too much suffering involved. Yeah, maybe a little at first, but once I got used to it..." Wes sighed. "Unfortunately, I'm not gonna get my chance. Rocky is a very lucky dude."

"He hasn't seen it yet, you know," Zaidan said, as he finished toweling off and pulled on a pair of his usual bikini briefs, which he'd used magic to alter a bit, making it impossible for his junk to slip out.

"He doesn't know what he's missing then," Wes murmured, as he followed Zaidan out of the bathroom and over to the large bed in the master bedroom.

Zaidan raised an eyebrow at Wes, when his friend laid down next to him on the bed, and asked, "We having a slumber party that somebody forgot to tell me about or is there something wrong with your bed? You know the one upstairs?"

"Neither and I know where my bed is thanks."

"Yeah, okay, so why are you in mine?"

"I thought we could have a little fun," Wes suggested. "You know for old time sake."

"Wes..."

"Now, now, Zaid," Wes interrupted. "I'm perfectly content if we keep our hands completely to ourselves. You wouldn't be cheating on Rocky, if we don't touch each other." After a moment, he added, "Not that you can cheat on him to begin with, since as you've both pointed out, you're not officially together yet."

"Well..." Zaidan said, drawing out the word. "I suppose you might be right and it has been a few days."

"A few days?" Wes asked, a grin plastered on his face. "Oh come on, Zaid, now we've got to. We're teenage boys for pity sake. We should never go more than a day without getting off at least once. Or more in your case."

"Oh shut up," Zaidan said, as he remained silent for a moment, before sighing and lifting his midsection off the bed and pushing his underwear down to his knees. When Wes didn't move, he raised an eyebrow and asked, "We doing this or not?"

As if shaken from a trance, Wes shook his head and nodded, as he pushed his own underwear down and asked, "Yeah... you got any lube?"

"In the drawer of the nightstand on your side of the bed," Zaidan answered.

Wes nodded and turned slightly towards the nightstand, pulled open the drawer and grabbed the bottle of lubricant that was quite easy to spot as soon as the drawer was open. Of course, unsurprising, there was also a good supply of silver-foil wrapped condoms, but they didn't really need those for their current activities. As he did this, however, he couldn't help but notice the framed picture on Zaidan's nightstand that he knew was of Kaidan. Wes would never admit it, because there was probably something a little weird about fantasizing about a dead person, but back at prep school, Wes had been imagining Kaidan during more than one of his and Zaidan's sessions together.

Noticing where Wes's eyes were lingering, however, Zaidan shook his head, "Gonna jack off to my brother again?"

"What?! I never," Wes spluttered.

"Oh don't even try, Wes," Zaidan said. "You honestly think I didn't notice that more often than not our activities all happened in my dorm room? Or that you always positioned yourself on the side of the bed that Kaidan's picture was on? Or that your eyes were always drifting over to it?"

"Zaid, man, you're too damn observant," Wes muttered after a moment, knowing that he'd been caught and that there was no point in lying. He was, however, blushing bright red, as he was seriously embarrassed at having been caught.

Zaidan sighed. "I didn't mean to embarrass you, just give me the lube will ya?"

Handing the bottle over to his friend, without even opening it, Wes just sat there for a moment, trying to get over his embarrassment. After a moment, Zaidan continued, "You know, Wes, I think if he were still alive, he'd have been flattered."

"He was gay?"

"Um, duh?" Zaidan asked. "Honestly, Wes, you should have known that from everything I've told you."

Wes shook his head. "Yeah, you're probably right." After a moment, he hesitated and asked, "Do you think..." But he couldn't finish the question.

"Do I think he would have liked you?" Zaidan asked and after a moments hesitation, Wes nodded. Zaidan remained silent himself for a moment, as he considered that, before he nodded and said, "Yeah, I think he would have. So, if you want to look at his picture go ahead."

"I'm not a necrophiliac or anything," Wes felt the need to point out. "I know he's dead and I have no desire to, you know, do something with his corpse or something. But I can't deny that he's hot."

"Yeah, I suppose he was," Zaidan said. "I'm his brother though, so I never really saw him that way." Shaking his head, he added, "And I know you're not, Wes. Now can we just do this already?"

"Yeah, lets," Wes agreed, as he watched Zaidan for a moment, as he uncapped the bottle of lube and applied some to his hand, after which he grabbed his hardening privates and began running his hand up and down them, as thoughts of Rocky danced in his mind.

Taking the lube, Wes was soon rubbing his own hand up and down his own dick, while occasionally glancing over at the nearly naked picture of Kaidan Prince. Of course, with Zaidan closing his eyes as he thought about Rocky doing a myriad of sexy and naughty things to him, he didn't notice that Wes's eyes did occasionally drift over to look at Zaidan's midsection, as Wes, while still fantasizing about Kaidan, needed a little visual help in imagining what was under the purple boxer-briefs that Kaidan was wearing in the picture, as he knew that the brothers were similarly equipped.

-o-0-o-

A little over a week later, Tommy, who'd invited all of his friends over to the house for a little impromptu house party in which they practiced some martial arts in the backyard and played a few video games, was just getting out of the shower and preparing to grab a towel with which to dry off when his eyes widened.

"What the hell?" he exclaimed, as he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror and thought for sure he must be imagining things or that his eyes were playing tricks on him, prompting him to close them and blink several times before opening them and looking in the mirror again, only to see the same thing.

"It's gotta to be the mirror," he mumbled, as he grabbed a towel and wiped some of the excess condensation off the glass, sure that it was somehow responsible for what he thought he was seeing, only as the glass cleared, he realized, with slowly dawning horror, that it wasn't his imagination nor was he seeing things, and it wasn't the mirror.

"Fuck," Tommy muttered, as he simply stared at his reflection for a moment and shook his head. "When I find out which one of them did it, I'm going to kill them."

Instead of drying off, Tommy got back into the shower and scrubbed his hair like his life depended on it because he really didn't want to go to school looking like this. After several minutes, he was satisfied that it surely had to be gone, he turned off the water, got out and looked in the mirror again, only to realize that it was still there, prompting him to shout, "Damn it to hell!"

With a frustrated sigh, he dried himself off and then headed into his bedroom to get dressed. Doing his best to ignore the unwanted change to his hair, he styled it in the mirror above his dresser, because if he had to go to school like this, he'd be damned if his hair also resembled a rat's nest. Pulling on socks, underwear, and a pair of black jeans, Tommy then went over to his closet and pulled out a white hoodie, which he quickly put on before pulling the hood up to hide his hair, all the while grumbling to himself and threatening bodily harm to his so-called friends and vowing revenge.

It was in his first period English class, of course, that he got a dose of reality. He hadn't really thought about, but he should have realized that there was no way that his teachers would let him wear a hood in class, a fact that Mrs. Applebee had just proven.

"Mr. Oliver, did you hear me?" she asked. "I said please remove your hood."

Tommy winced, but did as his teacher directed, revealing his bright pink hair to everyone in the classroom. Mrs. Applebee's eyes widened, but she remained stoic. The rest of the occupants, of the class, however, were soon shrieking with laughter, as they pointed at Tommy, who sank further and further into his chair, as his skin flushed red in embarrassment.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter 5 of 'Breaking the Cycle'. I hope you enjoyed it. I hadn't planned on updating this story again so soon, but I feel kind of bad making you all wait for long periods between chapters. I can't always guarantee frequent updates, as I do have three other stories in another fandom to work on, but the Muses were inspiring me and I got this finished and I figured I'd give it to you. Questions, comments, suggestions? Feel free to contact me via reviews, email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter.


	8. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
Written by J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter Six

-o-0-o-

"Nice hair, Oliver."

"Now your hair is as gay as you are."

"That color suits you, faggot."

"Trying to get in touch with your feminine side?"

"Hey Pinky, where's the Brain?"

Those were just some of the comments that Tommy had to deal with over the course of the school day. He desperately wanted to confront his friends and find out which one of them had slipped dye into his shampoo. It was the only way he could think of that they'd done this to him. Of course with each comment and laugh, he got angrier and he wasn't sure if he'd be able to avoid hitting someone. Yeah, not all the comments were bad, some of them were even funny. If they'd been directed at someone else, he might even have laughed. But being pointed and laughed at wasn't fun and the last thing he needed was to wind up in detention for fighting. So, he was doing his best to ignore everybody, including his friends and even Adam.

Now, it had to be said he didn't truly believe that Adam did it, as he had never been much of a prankster. He had been in his room, however, as had his other friends. Until he could figure out which one of them did it, he would suspect all of them. He also couldn't eliminate the possibility that more than one of them was guilty, as it could have been a joint effort. He'd also given up trying to hide his hair under his hood by the time third period rolled around. As much as he wished they'd just teach and ignore him none of his teachers allowed him to keep his hood up in class. And whenever he tried to put it up between classes, someone always pulled it back down as they passed him and laughed.

Adam and Rocky finally cornered him just after lunch, as he was getting some books out of his locker. Of all his friends, Tommy thought Rocky probably had the most likely temperament to prank someone, as he could be a bit childish at times. The only thing that gave Tommy pause was the fact that Rocky hadn't been present for the conversation about dying his hair pink. Of course, that didn't mean he couldn't have heard about it later and decided to play a prank.

"Love what you've done to your hair, Tommy," Rocky said, and it was clear that he was fighting back snickers as he said it. This prompted Adam to shoot his friend a look that clearly said, _'Not helping.'_

"Tommy, you can't ignore us all day," Adam pleaded.

"Try me," Tommy growled.

"Oh come on, Tommy, it's just a harmless prank," Rocky said.

Tommy wondered if Rocky would find it so harmless if he'd been the victim, but grabbing the last book he needed, he slammed his locker door and said, "Youth Center, after school." He didn't give either of them a chance to respond.

Adam sighed, as he watched his boyfriend walk away. "He's very angry."

Rocky nodded. "I noticed." With a sigh of his own he added, "I suppose some of the comments haven't exactly been kind."

"No, they haven't," Adam agreed. "Did you?"

Rocky shook his head. "No, I didn't. You?"

Adam looked at Rocky like he was crazy. "You honestly think I'd prank my boyfriend? With something I know he'd hate?"

"Yeah, probably not," Rocky said. "It's still kind of funny though."

"Kind of," Adam allowed, "but whoever did it, should have waited until the weekend."

"Yeah, I guess," Rocky agreed. "He'd still have gotten ribbed for it, but at least there wouldn't be a whole school full of people doing it."

-o-0-o-

Of course the meeting at the Youth Center was delayed, because apparently even Rita couldn't resist taunting Tommy, by sending down a group of putty patrollers who were pink instead of their normal gray, and following that up with a monster that vaguely resembled a giant pink flamingo. Needless to say, Tommy didn’t find it amusing and the whole encounter left him in an even worse mood than he had been in all day at school.

Finally arriving at the Youth Center after dispatching the putties and destroying Rita’s latest monster—which he’d taken great pleasure in doing—Tommy stalked over to the bar and ordered a smoothie, patently ignoring his friends who had mostly all gathered at a nearby table. Kimberly was the only one missing, although Tommy knew that she had a cheerleading practice to get to. He also couldn’t say that he was all that upset about not having to see the Pink Ranger right now, seeing as how even they all had a strong tendency to wear their ranger colors whether they were in uniform or not.

Grabbing his drink from the bar after Ernie finished making it, he took a few sips, before going over to the table his friends were at and turned a chair backwards before sitting down and setting his smoothie down hard enough to slosh the contents of the glass, although thanks to his drinking some of it not enough for any to escape the glass. Fixing each of his friends with a cold look, he asked, “Which one of you did it?”

“And what makes you think one of us did it?” Aisha asked.  
  
“Well, I certainly didn’t put the dye in my shampoo,” Tommy answered. “And I highly doubt that my mom and dad did. So, since I have no siblings and you were the only other ones in my bedroom and thus my bathroom, it had to be one of you.”

“Well, it wasn’t me,” Aisha said.

“And it wasn’t me either,” Adam said. “I hope you know I wouldn’t do that to you, Tommy.”

Tommy managed a small smile as he said, “Yeah, I kind of figured it wasn’t you Adam, if only because you’d know that I would absolutely hate it and that doing it would put a serious damper on your sex life.” In his head, Tommy added, _‘Although Rita has done a damn good job of that herself.’_

Unbeknownst to Tommy or anyone else at the table, Adam was thinking the exact same thing. Aloud he said, “You’re right, I may be many things, but I’m not stupid.”

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, “I’ll just save everyone else from having to deny it was them by admitting that I’m the one who put dye in your shampoo, Tommy.” Tommy looked about ready to jump up from his seat, when Zaidan held up a finger and said, “And before you kill me, I’d point out that I’ve got the antidote at home which will allow you to wash out the dye, but if you kill me, you’ll never get it.”

“Why’d you do it, Zaid?” Rocky asked, although he clearly wasn’t all that angry with Zaidan, because he honestly did think it was kind of funny, although he was refraining from laughing while sitting across the table from Tommy.

“After the conversation we had the other day, I couldn’t resist,” Zaidan answered, before he looked Tommy in the eye and said, “I am, however, truly sorry, Tommy. In hindsight, I realize that if I was going to do it, I should have waited until the weekend so you didn’t have to go to school like that. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

“Well, for starters you can take me to your house, give me the antidote and let me use your shower,” Tommy said.

“Done,” Zaidan said.

Tommy grinned mischievously as he said, “Of course, I’m also seriously tempted to say ‘dye your hair every color of the rainbow and go to school that way.’”

“Well, I suppose that would even the score,” Zaidan said. “Although why every color of the rainbow instead of just pink?”

“You were the one who said we had every color of the rainbow covered in our clothes,” Tommy said with a grin, prompting everyone to laugh. “Seriously, though, Zaid, I said I was tempted to say that, not that I actually was saying that.”

“Okay, then, well let’s go over to my house and you can wash your hair,” Zaidan said. “You’re all invited, if you like. We never did get around to shooting hoops the last time you were all over, so we could finally do that.”

“Sounds good to me,” Rocky said, as the others nodded, before they all got up and left.

-o-0-o-

The following day, Zaidan planned to do something about Wes having no money and had decided to take him to the bank. He was planning on asking Greg or Mike to co-sign on an account of Wes, since they’d said they both wanted to help him any way they could. However, when he brought it up to Wes, his friend told him it wasn’t a good idea.

“Why?” Zaidan asked. “You need to have some money and your father cut you off.”

Wes nodded. “True, but think about it, Zaid. Until I turn eighteen, I’m still a minor so my father could potentially still get his hands on any money I have in a bank account, even if his name isn’t on the account. He’s a billionaire and he’s got an army of lawyers who I’ve seen do what some called impossible over the years, so I think it’s best to just wait on the bank account until I’m actually a legal adult and thus no longer in any way under my father’s guardianship.”

“Hmm, yeah, I guess I hadn’t thought of that,” Zaidan said, as he began thinking of other ways to help his friend. Later that day, he surprised Wes as he said, “Here.”

“What’s this?” Wes asked as he took an envelope from his friend, which was oddly bulky.

“Open it and find out.”

Opening the envelope, Wes was surprised to find a thousand dollars in cash, along with a prepaid Visa debit card inside, not to mention a set of keys.

“I put $5,000 on the card,” Zaidan said. “If you need more, just ask, because it’s not like I can’t afford it. As for the keys, one is a key for the house, obviously, as I figured since you’re living here, you should probably have one, and the other is for your new motorcycle.”

“Motorcycle?” Wes asked, clearly surprised.

Zaidan nodded. “I know you had one in Silver Hills, so I figured I’d get you one so that you can get around on your own without borrowing my car or motorcycle. However, just so you know the motorcycle is currently in my name, but I’ll sign it over to you once you turn eighteen, thus your father’s lawyers can’t do any legal maneuvering to take it away from you since you don’t actually own it yet.”

Shaking his head, Wes said, “Zaid, you’ve already helped me tremendously by giving me a place to live and buying me an entirely new wardrobe—this is too much.”

“No it isn’t, Wes. You’re my best friend and you’ve been through something that nobody should ever have to go through,” Zaidan said, as he mentally cursed Alan Collins for being a homophobic, jackass bigot and not for the first time fantasized about turning the man to ash for daring to hurt Wes. “I’ve got the resources to help you and I’m going to, because that’s what friends do for their friends. So just do us both a favor and don’t waste your breath arguing because you’re not going to succeed in making me change my mind.”

Wes grinned as he said, “I know better than to argue with you when you get that look in your eyes. So, thank you,” as he pulled out his wallet and put the card and about a hundred and fifty of the cash in his wallet. At Zaidan’s raised eyebrow, Wes said, “I noticed that there’s a safe in my walk-in closet, so I figured I’d put the rest of the cash in it and only take a little when I actually need it, as I doubt it’d be a good idea to walk around with a thousand dollars in cash in my wallet, especially when it’s currently all the cash I have to my name.”

Zaidan was quiet for a moment, before he said, “Can I just say that you’re handling being broke a lot better than almost all of our old classmates at the prep school would have?”

Wes laughed. “Oh god, I can only imagine how they’d be reacting to being broke. They’d probably think the world had come to an end and that they may as well kill themselves now because life without obscene amounts of money isn’t worth living.”

Zaidan nodded his head as he could totally imagine the vast majority of them reacting exactly that way. He remained silent, however, as Wes said, “Anyway, even though my father has always acted like money is everything, my mother still managed to temper that belief before she died. Enough so that I know there’s more important things in life than money and that my life isn’t over just because my father cut me off.” With a grin, he added, “And I have to say it’s fun to imagine my mother’s reaction to all of this if she was still alive, because let’s just say that my father would probably find a double root canal to be more fun.”

“She sounds like she was a great lady,” Zaidan said. “I wish I could have met her.”

“Yeah, she was great,” Wes agreed. “You would have liked her and I think she would have loved you. Actually, from what you’ve told me about your own mother and stepmother, I think the three of them would have gotten along famously.” With a grin he added, “Even though my mother didn’t have quite the same pedigree that your mother and stepmother had, Your Highness.”

Rolling his eyes, Zaidan said, “Don’t call me that, Wes.”

“Why not? You are a prince, after all.”

“Technically yes. But, that title is useless now and seeing as how it isn’t from a monarchy here on Earth, I doubt it actually means all that much here, hence the reason I adopted it as my surname.”

“Well, yes, I suppose you have a point,” Wes agreed. “Still, it’s pretty cool that your mother was the queen of an entire planet.”

Zaidan groaned, his face pained as he said, “Yeah, a planet that can’t even support life anymore thanks to the person we shall not talk about. Now can we please change the subject?”

Wes laid a hand on Zaidan’s shoulder and said, “I’m sorry if I brought you down, Zaid. That wasn’t my intention.”

Laying his own hand on top of Wes’s, Zaidan nodded and said, “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry it’s just that sometimes I enjoy talking about home, because I have lots of good memories. But other times it’s too painful to think about all I’ve lost, from my family and my home, to my planet and my entire race.”

-o-0-o-

“Well, now isn’t that interesting?” Rita asked as she spied on the conversation between Zaidan and Wes with her telescope. “So Mr. Prince isn’t human and is actually royalty from another planet? Question is, which planet?” After a moment of silence, Rita shouted, “Finster!”

“Yes, my Queen?”

“Take another look at your readings from Zaidan Prince while he was in the Dark Dimension.”

“Of course, my Queen. Is there any specific information you’re seeking?”

“Yes,” Rita answered. “Mr. Prince is apparently royalty from another planet. A planet which according to him is no longer capable of supporting life. I want you to look at your readings from him and then try to pinpoint which planet he’s from.”

“Right away, my Queen.”

Turning back to look at Earth, Rita laughed. “Soon, Mr. Prince, I will know all of your secrets! And with them I’ll find a way to turn you and your power against the rangers! Ha, ha, ha!”

-o-0-o-

“William David Cranston!”

Billy cringed when he heard the shout of his full name, because his normally mild-mannered father—William David Cranston, Jr.—almost never raised his voice. On those very rare occasions that it did happen, it was pretty much a given that he wasn’t happy. In fact, for him to raise his voice at all was an indicator that he not only wasn’t happy, but that he was in fact very angry. It had been Billy’s experience that there were few things that could make his father angry, but apparently one of those things had happened and Billy had a pretty good idea what.

“What is the meaning of this?!” William yelled as he opened Billy’s bedroom door and entered the room without knocking first, which was another sure sign that he was angry.

“What’s the meaning of what?” Billy asked.

“Don’t play dumb with me, Billy, it’s unbecoming of someone as smart as you,” William said, as he held up a sheet of paper which made Billy cringe. “This, Billy! What the hell did you charge that you’ve nearly maxed your credit card?”

Since Billy was only sixteen, the credit card in question had been co-signed for by his father, so the company did send him a copy of the bill and Billy knew that this confrontation was coming, although he really hadn’t been looking forward to it. “I’m sorry, Dad.”

Looking more closely at the list of charges, William realized that by far the largest charge and the one that had nearly maxed the card was to the company that he recognized as being the phone company. “You nearly maxed your card paying your phone bill? Who have you been talking…” he stopped before he finished that sentence and sighed. “Jason.”

Billy nodded. “Unfortunately calling Switzerland from California isn’t very economical.”

William nodded. “Look, Billy, I know that you miss Jason. I’m sure that if I were in your position and separated from your mother by that kind of distance that I would be hating it just as much as I’m sure you are.”

Billy was happy that his parents were okay with his sexuality and that they not only knew about his relationship with Jason but whole-heartedly supported it. Still, he could also understand that his father was not likely to be pleased about the high credit card bill, considering that as the co-signer he’d be responsible for the debt if Billy couldn’t pay it off himself.

“However, as much as your mother and I like Jason,” William continued, “this can’t continue, Billy. Do I even want to know what your current phone bill is?”

“Enough to push the card up to the max,” Billy answered. “And still be over two thousand from being paid in full.”

“Oh God, Billy, I thought you were smarter than that,” William said, but immediately shook his head and added, “But I understand that you’re in love and that love can make you do some incredibly stupid things no matter how smart you are. Isn’t Jason paying for any of the calls you make to each other?”

Billy nodded. “Affirmative. The organizers of the summit provided all of the delegates with prepaid calling cards that they could use to call home, but Jason and I have been talking nearly every day. And he can’t use up all of his calling cards’ minutes talking to me because his parents expect to hear from him at least once a week. His mom knows about us and is supportive enough that she’d probably forgive him if he missed a call with her for a week in order to talk to me, but his father doesn’t know about us and he’d be furious if he did.”

William was silent for a few moments, before he nodded and said, “I suggest that you find some way to cut down on the calls, Billy, because this,” he held up the bill and nodded his head toward it, “cannot continue. I also suggest that you find some way to pay off both the card and your phone bill. Because I’m sure you remember our agreement when I co-signed for your card.”

“Yes, Dad, I remember,” Billy said. “I’m responsible for the bill and if I’m unable to pay then you’ll take the money to pay the bill out of my college fund and destroy the card.” William nodded, but said nothing as Billy said, “I’ve already taken several extra tutoring jobs. They don’t pay a ton of money, but every dollar helps.”

“Indeed,” William said. “I’ll give you until the end of this month to find some way to pay off this debt, but after that if you haven’t paid if off, your college fund will be smaller and you won’t have a credit card anymore. I may also seriously consider taking away your second line. Understood?”

“Yes, Dad.”

-o-0-o-

On Friday evening, Kim and Aisha were at Aisha’s house, as the girls had decided to have a girl’s night. Aisha’s parents were out of town for the weekend for their wedding anniversary and they trusted their daughter not to have any wild parties. They also had always liked Kim so they had no qualms about their daughter inviting her over to spend the night.

After finishing up their homework, Aisha headed into the kitchen to make them some popcorn and get a few drinks, while Kim sat on the couch and began channel surfing, hoping to find a good movie that she and Aisha could watch.

“Find anything good?” Aisha asked as she came out of the kitchen with a large bowl of popcorn and a tray with not only drinks, but also two boxes of chocolate on it and just in case they were needed as Aisha wasn’t sure what they’d be watching, a large box of tissues.

Kim nodded. “Yeah, _‘Sixteen Candles’_ is about to start.” Grabbing the TV Guide from the end table next to the couch, Kim turned to the correct day and found the channel she’d stopped on, and smiled as she added, “And _‘Pretty Woman’_ and _‘Sleepless in Seattle’_ are on after that.”

“Sounds good to me,” Aisha said as she sat down on the couch next to her friend and positioned the bowl of popcorn between them, as they each took a drink and a box of chocolate.

Several hours later, well past midnight, the girls had just finished watching _‘An Officer and a Gentleman’_ and they were both in tears as Richard Gere’s character, dressed in a US Navy uniform, carried Debra Winger’s character out of the factory she worked in.

Dabbing her eyes, Kim asked, “Why can’t that happen to us?”

Aisha nodded. “Yes, we so need someone to come in and sweep us off our feet.”

“Not much chance of that happening though considering that all the guys in our circle of friends are gay.”

“Adam and Jason are bi, but I wouldn’t try to come between them and Tommy or Billy.”

Kim nodded. “Yeah, they’re both too cute as couples for that.”

“I had high hopes when Zaidan came to town, but then he turned out to be gay, although I know Rocky is overjoyed. Honestly I’ve never seen him so happy.”

“Yeah, that’s true. If he didn’t have Zaidan he’d probably have been here tonight watching movies with us simply because he was just as lonely as we are.”

Aisha laughed as she thought back on all the times that Rocky had joined her and Kim for their girl’s nights, even though Rocky was obviously not a girl. However, he did occasionally like getting out of his crazy, jam-packed house and being single, he joined his platonic girlfriends for the occasional movie night, since Billy and Jason and Tommy and Adam were often out on dates and thus weren’t available to hang out with. Before the peace conference, Trini had also joined them for several of their movie nights, as well.

“And then Zaidan’s friend Wes comes to town and he’s gay too,” Kim complained. “And let’s not forget Zaidan’s domestic help, Greg and Mike. Yeah, they’re hot, but damn why do all the cute guys have to be gay?”

“Oh I hear ya girl,” Aisha said with a shake of her head. “I suppose there’s always Zack. He’s straight.”

“True, but I’ve known him since we were five so it would be like dating my brother.”

“Yeah I know ‘Eww,’” Aisha said with a grin which quickly turned mischievous as she said, “There is another guy who’s clearly straight and got it bad for you, Kim.”

Shaking her head, as she knew immediately who Aisha was talking about, Kim said, “No way in hell am I going to go out with Skull.”

“Can’t say as I blame you, although you’d probably make his year if you accepted his numerous date offers just once.”

Kim shuddered. “You’re probably right, but I’m not going to. Besides the fact that he’s a total airhead and a bully, can you imagine having his name if, heaven forbid, you actually married him?”

Now it was Aisha’s turn to shudder as she said, “Yeah, I can’t say as I would want to be Aisha Skullovitch anymore then you’d want to be Kimberly Skullovitch.”

“So true,” Kim said, as she yawned. “I guess we should get some sleep.”

“Yeah, maybe we’ll get lucky and we’ll have dreams of our dream men and then they won’t be dreams when we wake up.”

“I so wish.”

-o-0-o-

The following afternoon, Zaidan walked into the Youth Center and scanned the room, although he couldn’t see any sign of Rocky. They had a date and the plan was that they’d meet up at the Youth Center for a bite to eat before going to a movie. Normally one might think that one of them should have picked the other up at their home, but Rocky wasn’t out to his parents so Zaidan picking him up was out of the question. And considering that Rocky and Zaidan lived on opposite sides of the city, it made more sense to meetup in the middle at the Youth Center than it would have for Rocky to pick Zaidan up only to then turn around and come back in order to get to the Youth Center and the movie theatre.

 _‘Rocky clearly hasn’t arrived yet,’_ Zaidan thought to himself, as he scanned the room a second time and still saw no sign of the other teen. He did however, spot Billy sitting alone at the bar, so he headed in that direction, figuring he could say hi to his friend and keep him company while he waited on Rocky.

As he approached Billy, however, Zaidan could feel strong feelings of worry and stress against his mental shields, which he kept up at all times since his mother’s race were natural telepaths and empaths. It was from his father that Zaidan had inherited his magic, while he got his looks and mental abilities from his mother. Of course, being forced to leave home when he was thirteen, he had never gotten the advanced training in the mind arts that he would have gotten starting when he was sixteen and thus while he knew enough of the basics in order to be able to control his mental abilities and to shield his mind from being overwhelmed by other people’s emotions, it was still possible for particularly strong emotions—especially those of people he cared about—to get past his shield.

“Hey Billy,” Zaidan said, as he sat down on the empty stool next to his friend and made a point of not mentioning the feelings that he could literally feel pouring off of his friend in waves. He was definitely concerned and very curious, but looking at Billy he knew that a human wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at him that he was worried and stressed, as he was hiding it very well. And since he wasn’t ready yet to tell his new friends the whole truth about his origins, he knew there was no way he could bring it up.

Billy was silent for a moment, before he said, “Oh, hi Zaidan.”

While the tone of his voice didn’t really sound worried or stressed, it did sound distracted enough that Zaidan felt comfortable asking, “Is something wrong?”

“Wrong? No, nothing is wrong.”

Zaidan knew immediately that Billy was lying. Thankfully, however, it wasn’t just because of his empathic abilities as any human who could read other people’s body language would be able to tell that Billy was clearly lying. “Yeah, sorry, but I’m not buying the lie you’re selling because you’re really not a good liar, Billy.”

Instead of refuting Zaidan, Billy just sighed and said, “Fine, something is wrong, but it’s just something I have to figure out on my own.”

“Are you sure?” Zaidan asked. “Maybe if we talked about it, I could help you find a solution?”

“I doubt it.”

“Oh come on, Billy, it doesn’t hurt to try,” Zaidan said with an encouraging smile, as he lightly bumped shoulders with his friend, hoping to let him know that he truly did care and that he was here for him if the bespectacled teen needed him.

“Unless you can figure out a way for Jason to return home from the peace conference before its scheduled ending date then I’m afraid there’s very little you’d be able to do to help.”

“Ah, I see,” Zaidan said, although he got the distinct impression that missing his boyfriend was not the sole reason for Billy’s mood. Spying the folded up piece of paper that was clutched in his friends’ hand, he asked, “What’s that you’re holding?”

“It’s nothing,” Billy said as he quickly tried to stuff it into the pocket of his jacket, but in doing so he unfortunately overbalanced the stool he was sitting on and ended up falling to the floor.

It happened in less than three seconds, but to Zaidan it was as if he was watching in slow motion as he saw his friend moving towards the floor. He desperately wanted to reach out with his magic and stop him from falling, but he couldn’t do that without revealing the secret that he had magic to begin with. Being a totally unexpected turn of events that happened so fast, Zaidan also wasn’t quite quick enough to grab his friend and stop him before his butt, back, and the back of his head hit the ground.

“Ouch,” Billy moaned, even as Ernie raced over from behind the bar as he asked, “My God, Billy are you okay?”

Before Billy could answer, two annoying laughs came from one side of the room and looking up Zaidan saw Bulk and Skull sitting at a nearby table, laughing their heads off as they pointed at Billy, who Ernie was already helping up.

Walking over to Bulk and Skull, Zaidan crossed his arms and said, “I suggest that you both stop laughing now or I promise you that you will regret it.”

“Oh really?” Bulk asked as he stood up and got in Zaidan’s face. “And just who’s going to make me?”

Zaidan couldn’t help but notice that Skull hadn’t moved from his seat and wasn’t jumping in as he normally did to repeat whatever it was that Bulk had just said. In fact, he was looking more than a little apprehensive about the whole situation.

“I am, Bulk,” Zaidan said. “And don’t think that your size intimidates me or that your so-called karate skills scare me, because from what you demonstrated the last time we had a confrontation it was clear that you’ve never studied karate a day in your life. You were just imitating people who had and doing a very poor job of it, I might add.”

Bulk looked like he was about to say something, but not wanting to deal with him at the moment, Zaidan gave the large teen a magical nudge to just go away. He didn’t really like doing using his powers to influence people, as he’d had bad memories of it being done—not by him—to his loved ones in the past and thus resolved to do it only when he felt it was necessary. He knew that he could very likely hand Bulk his own ass if it came down to a fight, although as any martial artist would tell you, the true goal of the martial arts is not to fight, so if he could avoid fighting, he preferred to go that route.

With the magical nudge that Zaidan gave Bulk, he stood there toe to toe with Zaidan for about half a second before he apparently realized he had somewhere else to be, as he deflated and headed for the door. Skull looked surprised by this, especially since his friend had left behind half of the huge hoagie sandwich that he’d been in the process of eating. Of course, even though Skull would never say it aloud, he wasn’t sure that was necessarily a bad thing because Bulk could certainly afford to miss the occasional meal or at least not eat as much for each meal.

“Um, bye,” Skull said to Zaidan as he moved to follow Bulk out of the Youth Center, after he dropped some money on the table to pay for his and Bulk’s lunches. Looking over at Billy, who Ernie had now helped back up, he said, “Hope you’re okay.”

If Billy was surprised by this comment, he didn’t have time to say anything before Skull hurried out of the room. Zaidan, meanwhile, asked, “You are okay right?”

“Affirmative,” at Zaidan’s raised eyebrow, he added, “Perhaps a few minor aches. To be honest, I think my pride is aggrieved more than anything else.”

“I’ll get you another smoothie,” Ernie said, since Billy had accidentally knocked over his glass as he fell, causing the drink to spill all over the counter. “It’s on the house.”

“So, are you going to tell me what you were so intent on hiding?” Zaidan asked. While he was curious, he was determined not to use his powers to influence Billy as he had on Bulk because unlike the obese bully he considered Billy to be his friend and he didn’t think it was right to use his powers on them.

When Billy remained silent, Zaidan added, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to, of course. It’s just that something is clearly bothering you and I want to help if I can.”

With a sigh, Billy nodded, before he said, “I tried to hide those papers from you because I’m embarrassed. I talk with Jason almost every day and I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate upon the fact that it isn’t very economical to place that many long-distance phone calls in a month.”

Remembering that Jason was in Geneva, Switzerland, Zaidan winced as he imagined what the cost of calling him there from Angel Grove, California would be. He was sure that it was likely to be much higher than the call that Zaidan had made to New York City a few weeks back when he’d returned his trust manager’s phone call, as he’d recently gotten his phone bill for the previous month and that call certainly hadn’t been cheap. That, however, at least had been in the same country, so Zaidan wasn’t sure he wanted to imagine how high the bill would be if he was calling someone on another continent nearly daily.

“So the papers are your phone bill?”

Billy nodded. “Affirmative.” After a moment, he added, “And my credit card bill, which I nearly maxed paying last month’s phone bill. Needless to say that my father—as the co-signer for the card—wasn’t pleased. He’s given me until the end of the month to come up with the money to pay off both bills or he’s taking the money out of my college fund and destroying my credit card.”

“So just how bad is the damage?”

Billy looked quite miserable as he answered, “$2,500 for the phone bill and another $2,900 for the credit card, which has a $3,000 limit so even if I could charge the phone bill, and it would still not cover the entire bill. I’ve managed to save up $350 from tutoring jobs and the school librarian gave me $50 for computerizing the card catalogue.”

“So you still need $5,000.”

“Affirmative. If I cut back on other expenses, I can probably save up another $200 before the end of the month, but there’s no way I can get my hands on the rest before the month is over.”

“Does your college fund even have that much?”

Billy nodded. “Yes, although it’ll deplete it by roughly half, so I’ll need several scholarships to make up the difference if I plan to start at MIT in the fall after graduation. Assuming of course that I even get accepted.”

Zaidan grinned. “With your grades, I seriously doubt you have to worry about them accepting you, Billy.”

Billy smiled at Zaidan, before they fell into a companionable silence, during which time Billy went back to looking at his bills, clearly resigned to the fact that his college fund was going to get smaller. Thus Billy didn’t notice when Zaidan reached into his pocket and pulled out a pen and his checkbook. Knowing that his friend’s name was William Cranston III, Zaidan wrote that on the pay to the order of line of the topmost check, before writing down the amount of $5,000. After he signed and dated the check, Zaidan tore it out of the book and held it out to Billy. “Here you go, Billy.”

Billy’s eyes widened as he saw the check in Zaidan’s hand. Shaking his head, he said, “Zaidan, that’s too much—I can’t accept that.”

“Yes, you can, Billy,” Zaidan said. “I’m your friend and friends help their friends. Besides, if there’s one thing I have plenty of its money, and if I can use it to help my friends then I want to, so take it Billy.” Noticing that Billy still looked hesitant, he added, “I’m not taking no for an answer.”

Billy looked between Zaidan, the check, and his bills. It was obvious he was fighting internally, weighing the pros and cons of taking Zaidan's money over not taking it. In the end, Billy sighed and Zaidan was glad when he felt some of the stress and worry he’d detected in his friend disappearing as he took the check and said, "Thank you, Zaidan."

Zaidan nodded, as he took a sip of his smoothie that Ernie had placed in front of him just before he’d pulled out his checkbook. After a moment of thought he smiled and said, "You know, Billy, if it makes you feel better, I have an idea."

"What?"

"I've seen your lab," Zaidan said. "Surely you've got something in there that would be marketable. How about I call my trust manager and ask him for a recommendation for a patent attorney? They can help you apply for a patent or two and then with some luck you should have no trouble paying me back at some future point and maybe you’ll even make enough money that you won’t need to apply for any more scholarships."

Billy smiled and nodded. "That would be most excellent."

From the look on his friend's face, Zaidan knew that he was racking his brain trying to think of which of the many things he'd invented would be a good thing to try and patent. Deciding to try and help narrow it down, Zaidan said, "You have anything in the bio-chemical field, Billy? I own 31% of a New York-based bio-chemical engineering firm called Erikson Labs, which happens to be the main east coast competition to Wes’s father’s company. So if you have anything you could patent and license to them that’d allow Erikson to make a killing, that’d be great, because after the way Alan Collins treated Wes, I’d love for Bio-Lab to be eating Erikson’s dust."

Billy nodded and said, "Actually, yes, I do have a few original chemical formulas that Erikson might be interested in."

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, up on the moon, Rita was getting impatient as she waited for Finster to finish the task she’d given him. Walking into his laboratory, she said, “Finster!”

“Yes, my Queen?”

“Have you figured out where Mr. Prince is from yet?”

“No, my Queen,” Finster answered. “His genetic makeup doesn’t match anything I’ve ever encountered in this galaxy, although I have been scanning every planet just to be sure. Of course, scanning millions of planets takes quite a while. I’ve also begun searching neighboring galaxies, but so far nothing.”

“Squatt, Baboo, Goldar, Scorpina! Get in here!” Rita screamed.

Moments later the four minions arrived and Rita said, “I’m placing all four of you under Finster’s command until further notice. You are to assist him in searching through this galaxy and every other until you find out which planet Zaidan Prince is from. I’m giving you two days to find me that information. If you haven’t found me what I seek by then, I’ll be hitting all of you and then you’ve be working all day and all night with no food, water, or sleep until you get me the information I seek. Understood?”

All of Rita’s minions nodded to indicate that they understood, as they all knew better than to say anything when she used the tone that she’d just used. She would more likely than not have taken anything they had to say, even if it was just an acknowledgement of her orders, as them disagreeing with her and then their heads would be hurting after she hit them with her wand and she’d in turn put them on no food, water, or sleep earlier than two days from now. With that threat looming, however, none of them complained about being placed under Finster’s command, even Goldar and Scorpina, who were usually Rita’s second and third in command, with Finster coming after them in the normal hierarchy.

-o-0-o-

Back at the Youth Center, Zaidan and Billy talked for a few more minutes, before Zaidan called John Taylor to ask if he knew any good patent attorneys who could help his friend Billy. John said he did know one, in fact, as his younger brother, Evan Taylor, was a lawyer who had chosen to specialize in patent and copyright law. Satisfied with the recommendation, Zaidan gave John Billy’s contact information and then gave Billy an extra two hundred in cash.

Billy raised an eyebrow at the two hundred dollar bills and asked, “What’s this for?”

“Go buy a prepaid calling card,” Zaidan answered. “The check I gave you plus what you already saved will pay off your current bills, but you’ll find yourself right back in your current position pretty quickly if you don’t change your habits soon. I know you miss Jason and want to hear his voice, but racking up thousands in phone and credit card bills isn’t a good thing.”

Billy nodded. “Very true,” as he accepted the cash and put it in his wallet, along with the check which he intended to deposit as soon as possible. He’d wait a day or so before sending off the checks to the phone and credit card companies, to ensure that the funds were actually available when they received the checks. Finishing off his smoothie, he said, “Thankfully, the peace conference is actually almost over anyway. Another two weeks and Jason will be home, so I’ll just have to reduce the number of times we call each other. Maybe also consider instant messaging instead of phone calls.”

“Yeah, that could work, but just remember not to go over your monthly hours on your internet provider,” Zaidan said. “Don’t need them to start charging you for overages.”

“Yeah, definitely,” Billy said. “Anyway, thank you, Zaidan, I really am most grateful for your assistance.”

“You’re welcome, Billy,” Zaidan said. “My trust manager’s brother Evan should be calling you in the next couple of days and thankfully, he lives in Los Angeles, so you won’t incur the kinds of long-distance charges talking to him that you were incurring talking to Jason in Switzerland.”

“True,” Billy said. “Well, I should get to the bank.”

“Yes,” Zaidan said, as he spotted Rocky entering the room. “Take care, Billy.”

Billy grinned as he spotted Rocky coming over and said, “You too, Zaidan, and have fun with Rocky.”

As Rocky got closer and Zaidan was able to get a better look at what he was wearing, the blond-haired teen felt a rather uncomfortable tightening in his pants, made all the worse due to the unusualness of that particular section of his anatomy. As the only person who had ever seen Zaidan without clothes on, Wes insisted that it was great and that Zaidan definitely had nothing to be ashamed of. Zaidan, however, wasn’t entirely sure how Rocky would react when he found out though.

 _‘He still doesn’t even know that despite appearances, I’m not human,’_ Zaidan thought. _‘He’s in for so many surprises when I finally decide to share my secrets with him and his friends. Of course, I don’t plan on telling anyone but Rocky about my genitals, because I don’t see how that’s any of Tommy’s or the others’ business.’_

“Hey handsome,” Rocky said with a big grin, as he sat down on the stool next to Zaidan, positioning his legs so that they were between Zaidan’s and gently rubbing his knee against Zaidan’s crotch.

 _‘Oh gosh damn, Rocky,’_ Zaidan thought. _‘You’re making it worse.’_ Aloud he said, “Hey yourself.”

Before either of them could say anything else, however, Billy unexpectedly came back and walked over to the two of them. “I would suggest that you stop your current ministrations, Rocky, unless you want certain individuals of the familial nature to know about Zaidan.”

At Rocky’s confused look, Billy said, “I was on my way to my car when I spotted Carlos, Antonio, Luis, and Miguel getting off the city bus. I suspect they’ll be in here any moment.”

Rocky groaned and Zaidan could easily detect his frustration and at the same time confusion.

“Thanks for the warning, Billy,” Rocky said, as he stopped rubbing his knee against Zaidan’s crotch and turned so that his legs were no longer between Zaidan’s.

“No problem,” Billy said. “Now, I’ve gotta get going. I’d say enjoy your date, but I have the feeling that may have gone out the window the moment your younger brothers stepped off the bus alone.”

As Billy walked away, Zaidan asked, “So, your younger brothers?”

Rocky sighed. “Yeah, Carlos, Antonio, Luis, and Miguel. They’re ten-year-old quadruplets, although Carlos is sort of the odd one out, since the other three are identical. They were supposed to be staying with our sister Isabella today while my parents are at work, so I don’t know why they’re here or why they’re riding the bus alone.”

Spotting four young boys entering the main room, three of them identical, Zaidan said, “Well, I think we’re about to find out.”

“Yo, Rocko,” the middle of the three identical boys said, as he pointed at Rocky, and he and his brothers headed over towards Rocky and Zaidan. When they were standing right in front of them, the boy added, “What’s up, Rocko?”

“I could ask you the same thing, Miguel,” Rocky said. Zaidan honestly wasn’t sure how Rocky could tell his identical siblings apart, because looking at them, Zaidan couldn’t spot a single difference between the three that would allow him to tell them apart. Of course, he supposed that Rocky being their older brother may have figured out a way in the last ten years to do that which Zaidan couldn’t do having only just met them. “Why aren’t you at Bella’s house?”

It wasn’t Miguel who answered, but instead the one that Zaidan assumed must be Carlos, since it was the lone non-identical brother, who said, “Mark was in a car accident, so, knowing you’d be here, Bella put us on the bus and told us to come here, while she headed for the hospital.”

“Oh no. Is he okay?” Rocky asked, clearly concerned.

The quads shrugged, as Miguel said, “Don’t know. Haven’t talked to Bella since she put us on the bus.”

Looking over at Zaidan, he said, “Mark is Bella’s husband,” prompting Zaidan to nod in understanding. “Can you watch them for a moment while I go call my sister?”

“Sure, Rocky,” Zaidan said. As Rocky walked away, Zaidan smiled at the four boys and said, “Hello. I’m Zaidan Prince, one of your brother’s friends.”

“Miguel, nice to meet you,” the middle one said, as he held out his hand. Zaidan shook it, as the left triplet held out his own hand and introduced himself as Antonio, leaving the one on right as Luis.

Shaking hands with Antonio and Luis, Zaidan than shook hands with Carlos, who surprised the hell out of Zaidan when he asked, “Are you Rocky’s boyfriend?”

“Why would you ask that?” Zaidan hedged, since he knew that Rocky wasn’t out to his family and he knew it wasn’t his place to tell them.

Miguel grinned. “Rocky thinks he’s so good at hiding it.”

Antonio nodded. “But he really isn’t.”

Luis added, “Well, to be fair, I doubt Mom and Dad know yet.”

Carlos said, “I don’t think Grandma and Grandpa have figured it out either.”

Miguel nodded and said, “But we’ve,” motioning between himself and his three brothers, “have known that Rocky’s gay for over a year now.”

“And what makes you think that?” Zaidan asked, not only because he was curious, but also in an attempt to buy himself some time for Rocky to get back so that he could deal with this himself.

Antonio got a mischievous look on his face as he said, “Thankfully for him our parents and grandparents are computer illiterate, but we’re not, and Rocky has on occasion forgotten to clear the search history on his computer.”

“Not to mention the binder full of pictures he keeps under the loose floorboard under his bed that he thinks that nobody but him knows about,” Miguel added with a grin.

Luis grinned. “Yeah we found his secret candy stash ages ago. Of course, as we found out that wasn’t the only thing there.”

Carlos nodded. “Yeah, his binder is full of pictures of naked men and his search history had some videos of naked guys kissing or putting each other’s penises in their mouths.”

“Don’t forget the ones where the guy put his penis in another guy’s ass,” Antonio added, the look on his face clearly saying that he thought that was gross.

 _‘Rocky, Rocky, Rocky, you should be more careful,’_ Zaidan thought. Aloud he said, “You four really shouldn’t be looking at that stuff.”

“Shouldn’t be looking at what?” Rocky asked, as he came back over to the group. “Mark’s gonna be fine by the way. Just talked to Bella and with the exception of some minor cuts and bruises, a broken wrist and a sprained ankle, he’s fine.”

Looking at Rocky, he said, “They were just telling me that they found your binder.” Rocky looked confused, prompting Zaidan to add, “The one you keep with your secret candy stash under your bed.”

Rocky’s eyes widened almost comically at this, as he turned to his little brothers only to see them all nodding their heads with huge grins on their faces.

“So, is he your boyfriend, Rocko?” Carlos asked his now blushing older brother, as he pointed at Zaidan.

Rocky sighed, looked at Zaidan for a moment, who gave him an encouraging smile, before turning back to his brothers and saying, “Yes, Zaidan is my boyfriend. But you can’t tell anyone, understand? And you’ve gotta promise me to never look at that binder again.”

“Or the videos in his search history,” Zaidan added, prompting Rocky to exclaim, “What?! They saw those too?” Turning to his brothers, he asked, “I thought I told you four not to touch my computer!”

 _‘Rocky, as many siblings as you have, I’d have thought you’d know that when you tell a kid not to do something they’re going to turn around and do exactly that,’_ Zaidan thought.

He stayed silent, however, as Antonio said, “You did but the computer in the den was broken and we needed to look some stuff up for school.” Seeing the unbelieving look on Rocky’s face, Antonio added, “Honest!”

Miguel and other three all nodded in unison, as Miguel said, “Yeah, scout’s honor.”

Looking at his watch, Zaidan said, “Well, we were going to get food here, but Rocky if we don’t head for the theatre now, we’re going to miss the showing we were planning to go to.”

Rocky nodded. “Unfortunately, Bella’s gonna be busy with Mark for the next couple of hours, so they’d have to go with us and Mom is very strict about not letting them watch anything above a PG rating.” At this, he groaned as he imagined his mother’s reaction to finding out that they’d watched gay porn on his computer.

“Hmm,” Zaidan said, knowing that he and Rocky had planned to go see **_Star Trek: First Contact_** , but he knew that was rated PG-13 and he didn’t want to risk Rocky getting in trouble with his mother. Thankfully, Zaidan had taken the page from the paper with the movie listings with him when he left home, so pulling it out, he said, “Well, let’s see what else is playing shall we?”

Looking at the movie listings for a moment, he smiled and asked, “How about the live-action version of **_101 Dalmatians_**? It’s rated G and has a showing only 10 minutes after the one we were going to go to.”

“I guess that would work,” Rocky said, as he turned to his little brothers—who he suddenly remembered had mentioned wanting to see that movie not that long ago—and said, “You guys want to go to the movies with Zaidan and me?”

All four of them nodded, clearly enthusiastic, which prompted Rocky to say, “Okay, if you guys promise me that you won’t ever look inside my binder or through my search history ever again, we’ll take you to the movies and I’ll buy each of you two types of candy from the concession stand, in addition to popcorn and drinks, but you’ve gotta promise. And no crossing your fingers beyond your backs either.”

“We promise,” the four of them said in unison, with all of their hands visible, so Rocky knew they weren’t crossing their fingers.

“Alright then,” Rocky said, as he took Carlos’s and Antonio’s hands, and said, “Let’s go then.” Over his shoulder, he asked, “Zaidan, can you?”

Guessing what was being asked of him, Zaidan nodded and said, “Yeah, no problem,” as he took Luis’s and Miguel’s hands and the six of them left the Youth Center.

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter Six of ‘Breaking the Cycle’. I hope you enjoyed it. I was initially planning to actually have Rocky and Zaidan’s date be just the two of them, but then I got the idea to have his little brothers know that he’s gay and decided to run with it.
> 
> Also, as you may have guessed, this story is officially off hiatus now, as I’ve decided to do an alternating schedule for updates on my currently posted multi-chaptered fics. I’ll be posting updates to each of them in 3-5 chapter arcs. So, this story will get two more chapters in the current arc and then I’ll move on to my Harry Potter story, ‘Knights of the Founders’ for three chapters. Then my Smallville story, ‘Brotherly Love’ and then my Harry Potter story, ‘The Journey Begins/Along the Journey’. I’ll then circle back around and do 3-5 chapters for ‘A Windsor at Hogwarts’ before returning to this story for another 3-5 chapters.


	9. Chapter Seven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
Written by J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Previously in ‘Breaking the Cycle’…

-o-0-o-

Tommy deals with the hair-dying prank and Zaidan admits it was him who did it. Zaidan shares his money with his friends, first with Wes, who thanks to his father cutting him off was completely broke, and then with Billy, who has been talking to Jason nearly every day and racking up substantial long-distance charges. Rita overhears a conversation between Wes and Zaidan which hints at Zaidan’s otherworldly origins and the fact that he is in fact a royal prince, as his late mother was the Queen of his home planet, which sadly is no longer capable of supporting life. Kim and Aisha spend an evening watching romantic comedies and discussing the lack of romance in their own lives. Zaidan and Rocky’s planned dinner/movie date is interrupted by Rocky’s quadruplet younger brothers and Rocky ends up admitting to them that he’s gay and dating Zaidan. Thankfully, they’re fine with this much to Rocky’s relief.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Seven

-o-0-o-

The next day, even though they’d all promised not to look in his binder or watch videos they shouldn’t be watching anymore, Rocky had Billy over to his house. The Blue Ranger then proceeded to lockdown Rocky’s computer in such a way that would hopefully prevent Rocky’s brothers from accessing it without his permission. Zaidan also surprised his boyfriend with a lockbox that would fit under his bed and was big enough to hold both his binder and his candy stash. In all honesty, Rocky wasn’t overly concerned about the candy stash, as he probably would have shared a little with his brothers anyway, but they definitely didn’t need to be looking at the binder full of pictures that he used while pleasuring himself.

Once Billy was finished with Rocky’s computer, he left in order to give Rocky and Zaidan some time alone, as it was one of those rare moments when the house was actually empty, since both of Rocky’s parents were at work, his brothers were at soccer practice, and his grandparents had gone out of town for the weekend to attend the funeral of one of their old high school friends who had recently lost their battle with lung cancer.

“You have a very nice room, Rocko,” Zaidan said, as he sat down on the edge of Rocky’s bed and looked around the room.

“Thanks, but it’s nowhere near as nice as yours.”

“Perhaps, but it’s still very nice,” Zaidan said with a smile. “The trophies are for martial arts?”

“Some of them, yeah. There’s a few there for soccer though and a few from when I played little league. I still play soccer with my brothers from time to time, but I’m not on a team anymore and I gave up baseball after I started studying the martial arts because at the time my parents couldn’t afford both, so I had to choose one or the other.”

Zaidan nodded, but remained quiet as he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself. Rocky was his first boyfriend, serious or otherwise, so he was a bit out of his depth. He and Wes had fooled around, but it had never progressed beyond hand jobs and frottage. Plus, there was the fact that Rocky wasn’t yet aware of the fact that Zaidan wasn’t from Earth and he knew that he’d have to tell him that before they fooled around too much because he knew that his genitals were something he’d need to warn Rocky about before he actually saw them.

“Z? You okay? You kind of zoned out on me.”

“What? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking.”

“Really? What about?”

“You,” Zaidan said, knowing that it wasn’t entirely a lie.

“And just what were you thinking about little old me?”

Zaidan grinned. “Well, first off, there’s nothing old or little about you.” Rocky grinned at this, before Zaidan continued, “And I was thinking about how much I want to kiss you.”

“Well, I think that could be arranged,” Rocky said, even as he moved closer until his lips were mere inches away from his boyfriend’s.

Closing the distance, Zaidan placed one hand on the back of Rocky’s neck, holding him in place, while he wrapped his other arm around Rocky’s back and pulled him closer, as he laid back on Rocky’s bed, pulling Rocky down on top of him as he did so. What started out as a fairly chaste kiss soon evolved into a much more passionate make-out session and as Rocky ground his hips downward, Zaidan could feel Rocky’s hardening member pressing against his thigh and could feel himself hardening as well.

He momentarily worried that Rocky might feel something was off, but then he remembered that one of the rare bits of magic he’d mastered since moving to Earth had been to basically enchant all of his underwear so that not only could his decidedly different endowment not slip out—a necessary precaution given his preference for bikini briefs—but that it would also look and feel normal, by human standards anyway. Thus, the only way for anyone to find out about his unique anatomy was if he told them or they caught him without any clothes on.

 _‘Well, also if anyone were to put their hand inside my underwear,’_ Zaidan thought which prompted him to realize that no matter how much he might want Rocky to be able to touch him there, he couldn’t allow it to happen until he’d come clean and told the truth about his origins and what that meant. _‘Question is how much of the truth should I share? And when I do, will Rocky still want to touch me there?’_

Thankfully for Zaidan, while he was deep in thought, he was able to keep up the motions of making out with Rocky and thus he didn’t notice that Zaidan was in any way preoccupied. Shaking off his thoughts for another time, Zaidan decided that he should just stop thinking and enjoy the moment. To that end, he flipped Rocky over so that he was the one lying on the bed and Zaidan was on top of him. They continued to make out for a few minutes, until finally Zaidan had a thought and breaking the kiss he grinned at Rocky, before leaning down and whispering in his ear, “I so want to blow you.”

Rocky’s eyes widened a bit at this, but he smiled and turning his head to playfully nip at Zaidan’s bottom lip, he whispered back, “I won’t stop you.”

With a smile, Zaidan slowly moved down Rocky’s chest, peppering his chest with kisses as he moved ever lower. A part of him did wish that he was kissing Rocky’s bare flesh instead of a red t-shirt, but then again Rocky’s shirt was almost skin tight, so it was almost like a second skin. Finally reaching the lump in the front of Rocky’s jeans, Zaidan kissed it several times before he took a deep breath and began to unbuckle Rocky’s belt, followed by the button fly of his jeans.

“Lift your hips up,” Zaidan said once he’d completed his task, at which point Rocky did as instructed as Zaidan proceeded to pull Rocky’s jeans down just far enough to expose the red cotton boxer-briefs he was wearing underneath. Leaning down once again, Zaidan once again peppered the tent with kisses as he used his hands to massage Rocky’s muscular legs for a moment, before reaching around Rocky’s body and grabbing his ass.

After a few more moments of Zaidan kissing Rocky’s bulge through the cotton of his underwear, Rocky squirmed a bit as he said, “Oh, Z, stop teasing me.”

Zaidan grinned as he lifted his head up to look at Rocky and say, “But it’s so much fun.”

“Zaidan,” Rocky whined.

“Okay, okay, I’ll move on.”

Turning his attention back to Rocky’s bulge, Zaidan planted one more kiss upon the cloth covered mound of flesh, before he grabbed the waistband of Rocky’s underwear in his hands and pulled them down, grinning as he felt Rocky’s erect cock, finally freed from its cotton prison, slap first against his chin, before he could see it slap against Rocky’s abdomen.

 _‘Wow, it’s even better than I imagined,’_ Zaidan thought as he got his first glimpse of Rocky in all his glory. He’d seen him without a shirt on and wearing speedos in the pool, but this was definitely the first time he’d seen Rocky’s endowment with nothing covering it up and it wasn’t a disappointment by any means. Wrapping his thumb and forefinger around the base of the shaft, he then proceeded to plant a wet kiss on the head, which made Rocky moan. Zaidan grinned. _‘Well, I definitely like that sound. Hopefully I can get him to make it often.’_

Before he did anything else, however, he lifted his head and looked up at his boyfriend as he said, “Just so you know, this is the first time I’ve actually done this.”

Rocky looked up at that, a slightly puzzled look on his face, as he asked, “You and Wes never?”

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, “No, we never progressed beyond hand jobs and frottage, so this is going to be entirely new territory for me. Like you, I’ve seen some porn movies so I’ve seen this done, but I’ve never actually done it myself. Just thought I should warn you.”

“I’m sure you’ll be great, Z,” Rocky said with an encouraging smile.

Zaidan chose not to comment, instead leaning down and starting out by licking the shaft of Rocky’s manhood from the base all the way up to the head. For his part, Rocky, could only moan as it felt very good. Running his tongue up and down the shaft a few more times, Zaidan then swirled his tongue around on just the head, as Rocky continued to moan, prompting Zaidan to ask, “I assume you’re enjoying this?”

“Oh hell yes.”

“Okay then,” Zaidan said, happy to know that he was pleasing his boyfriend. _‘Although I think it’s time to take the pleasure to another level,’_ he thought, as he swirled his tongue around the head of Rocky’s penis one final time, before he opened his mouth wide, being careful to cover his teeth with his lips, and then taking the head of Rocky’s penis into his mouth.

 _‘Oh wow,’_ Zaidan thought. _‘There’s no way I’m taking it all in my mouth,’_ as he wrapped one hand around the base of Rocky’s shaft and began jerking him off, as he sucked on the head and the first inch or so below it.

“Oh Z, feels so good,” Rocky said, as he laid back on his bed and let his eyes drift shut. One of his hands was idly playing with Zaidan’s hair. After a few minutes, Rocky moaned and said, “Oh, Z, I’m gonna… gonna… oh….”

Zaidan was tempted to remove his mouth from Rocky’s penis and not swallow, but considering that he was mostly dressed, he figured that could get messy and he wasn’t sure if they needed to hide the evidence from Rocky’s mother or not. Of course, he was also curious what it tasted like, so, he kept his mouth sealed around Rocky’s cock and drank his come as he shot it. When he finally stopped, Zaidan swirled his tongue around the head one final time, before letting it slip out of his mouth and moving up to Rocky, where he kissed him on the lips.

When their lips parted, Rocky took a deep breath and said, “Oh wow, Z that was amazing. Thank you so much.”

Zaidan smiled. “You’re welcome.”

“Just give me a moment and then I’ll return the favor.”

 _‘Return the favor?’_ Zaidan thought. _‘Oh shit.’_

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, “That’s not necessary.”

“I want to though,” Rocky said. “You did me, so it’s only fair that I do you too.”

Before Zaidan could say anything, Rocky’s strange watch beeped and he thought, _‘Damn it, Rita! You have horrible timing!’_

 _‘Wait, Rita?’_ Zaidan thought, as he picked up on Rocky’s surface thoughts. _‘He couldn’t possibly mean Rita Repulsa, could he?’_

“I’m sorry, Z, but I’ve gotta go,” Rocky said as he got off the bed and began buttoning his pants, even as the strange watch on his wrist beeped again. “I have an appointment that I totally forgot about.”

“Yeah, okay,” Zaidan said, as he stood up. “I’ll just show myself out.”

 _‘Okay that came out a little more annoyed then I’d intended,’_ Zaidan said, as he left Rocky’s room. He was halfway down the stairs when he decided that he should go and apologize to his boyfriend, who had strangely remained in his bedroom instead of coming with him. _‘Of course, maybe there’s a back stair.’_ This thought quickly died, however, as he approached Rocky’s room and heard him talking. Obviously he hadn’t left his room yet and was now talking with someone, although Zaidan had no idea how that was possible seeing as how they’d been the only people in the room just a few short moments ago.

“Rocky here, what is it Zordon?”

 _‘Zordon?’_ Zaidan thought. _‘That name is strangely familiar.’_

“Rocky, Rita has sent down a monster,” a male voice that Zaidan could only assume was this Zordon person that Rocky was talking to. How exactly he wasn’t sure, as he took up position against the wall just outside of Rocky’s bedroom and listened. He knew that spying on his boyfriend was wrong, but he and the others were clearly keeping something from him and their annoying beeping watches and lame excuses were starting to grate on Zaidan. “The other rangers are already in the park and need your help.”

 _‘Other rangers?!’_ Zaidan thought.

“On my way, Zordon,” Rocky said, as Zaidan chanced a glance around the doorframe to see that Rocky was standing with his back to the open doorway. It was at this point that Zaidan saw Rocky take something out of his back pocket and raise it in front of him as he said, “Tyrannosaurus!”

Zaidan could only look on with widening eyes as his boyfriend was bathed in red light. Moments later, he was standing there in red spandex and a helmet and Zaidan thought, _‘Oh my God. Rocky is a power ranger!’_ As he thought this, he watched as Rocky’s whole body was consumed in a stream of red and he disappeared from the room. _‘So if Rocky is a ranger, does that mean that the others—Tommy, Billy, Adam, Kimberly, and Aisha—are also rangers? It might well explain the strange watches and the frequent disappearances, not to mention the weird excuses.’_

“I need more information,” Zaidan said softly to himself as he enveloped himself with his magic and teleported out of Rocky’s house to the secluded grove at Angel Grove Park that he’d found shortly after moving to the city, hoping it was secluded enough for him to be able to teleport to it without being seen.

-o-0-o-

Moments later at Angel Grove Park, Zaidan watched from his hiding place in the secluded grove, which had, as he’d hoped, been deserted when he arrived. Of course, considering that the rangers were fighting one of Rita’s monsters about thirty yards away he wasn’t particularly surprised as anyone who may have been there had probably run the moment the current monster of the day showed up.

 _‘Rita sure does know how to make them ugly, doesn’t she?’_ Zaidan thought as he watched the rangers fight a creature that looked like a cross between a scorpion, a goat, and a squid.

After a moment of concentration, Zaidan tuned his hearing enough that he could hear the rangers talking to one another as they fought and he was shocked when he recognized all of their voices as those of his friends and even heard them referring to each other by name. One thing that did confuse him, however, were Rocky’s, Aisha’s, and Adam’s voices coming from the Red, Yellow, and Black rangers as they’d been the ones to rescue him from Rita’s Dark Dimension and they hadn’t sounded anything like his three friends at that time.

Any further thoughts on Zaidan’s part were cut short as he spied Rita’s staff hitting the ground near the monster, which quickly began growing until it was towering over the rangers. From his hiding place, he could hear Tommy say, “Let’s show him the power of thunder!”

A chorus of “Right,” came from the other rangers, before he heard Adam’s voice call out, “Mastodon Lion Thunderzord power.”

“Pterodactyl Firebird Thunderzord power,” called out Kimberly a moment later, followed by Bill’s call of, “Triceratops Unicorn Thunderzord power,” and Aisha calling out, “Sabre Tooth Tiger Griffin Thunderzord power.” Rocky then called out, “Tyrannosaurus Red Dragon Thunderzord power,” before Tommy finished the sequence, as he called out, “White Tigerzord, power up!”

Zaidan watched the rangers’ new zords assembling and couldn’t help but be impressed. While the White Ranger, or Tommy as Zaidan now knew, had had the White Tigerzord the entire time that Zaidan had been in Angel Grove, the others had initially had the Dinozords, which Zaidan had learned were their original zords. However, the Dinozords were apparently incapable of combining with Tommy’s zord, so after a particularly brutal battle a couple of weeks ago, the rangers unveiled their new zords, which all the zords except for Rocky’s combined with to create the Mega Tigerzord. From the news footage that Zaidan had seen, he’d been rather suitably impressed, but seeing the zords from a closer vantage point was definitely more impressive than just seeing them on television.

“I should go, though,” Zaidan said softly, after a few minutes. “I wonder if I should tell Wes what I’ve discovered. He’ll probably think I’m joking though.” With that in mind, Zaidan disappeared in a flash of purple.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, up on the moon, Rita watched the rangers summon their zords and knew that her monster would soon be done for. But, she honestly didn’t care, because this had only been a delaying action to keep the rangers busy while her minions searched for Zaidan’s home planet.

After a moment longer of peering through her telescope she abruptly turned away, sending the telescope spinning on its stand, as she headed for Finster’s laboratory. “Finster, status report!”

“We’ve searched every planet in the Milky Way Galaxy, my Queen,” Finster said. “And determined that Mr. Prince is not from this galaxy. We’re currently searching both Andromeda and Triangulum, my Queen.”

“I think I just found something,” Scorpina said before Rita could say anything. “In Triangulum.”

Before Rita could question Scorpina, the entire palace started shaking violently, causing Rita to lose her balance and fall to the floor. Scorpina rushed over to help Rita back up, as a loud, booming voice laughed, "HAHAHAHA!"

"What's going on?" Rita demanded as she regained her feet, picked up her wand, and shoved Scorpina away.

"This can only mean one thing," Goldar said. "Lord Zedd the true emperor has returned!"

At these words, Rita's face took on a look of abject terror, as she said, "Oh my God. Oh no."

Moments later, Rita and her minions had left Finster’s lab and were standing on the balcony overlooking Earth. Everyone was clearly panicking as the palace continued to shake and Rita was saying, "Oh no, oh no, where is he? Where is he?"

Not long after these words, an image of Lord Zedd appeared outside the palace, visible from Rita's balcony, as he said, "I am Lord Zedd, Emperor of All I See. You have failed to complete the mission assigned to you." As he said this, he shot a bolt of lightning from his fist in Rita's general direction, before continuing. "I will now resume command. Prepare the palace for my return!"

Everyone ducked at this point, as the image of Zedd disappeared and a fireball shot over their heads, deeper into the palace.

"Lord Zedd has returned!" Goldar exclaimed, clearly pleased with this turn of events.

Rita growled out, "He's going to ruin everything."

"But where is Lord Zedd?" Baboo asked.

Pointing further into the palace, where the fireball had gone, Goldar said, "Where he belongs, in his Chamber of Command."

"Oh I've got such a headache!" Rita whined.

"Deal with it!" Goldar said. "I'm going to go meet my Emperor."

"We should go check this guy out," Squatt said to Baboo, "come on."

-o-0-o-

Knowing that Wes was at the Youth Center, Zaidan headed there after leaving the park and there he watched the Rangers finish up their battle on the television screen, as most of the local news stations had gotten into the habit of airing their battles live, as it helped to reassure the populace that everything was okay and that the Power Rangers were once again winning the day. As Rita’s latest monster fell to the ground and blew up, Zaidan grinned as he pulled Wes into the hallway and said, “Boy, have I got something to tell you.”

“What is it?” Wes asked.

“You’re never going to believe this.”

Wes arched an eyebrow at this, as he looked around to make sure that nobody was around to overhear them, before he said, “Zaid, dude, if I can believe that you’re an alien from another planet and all the other crazy shit you’ve shared with me, I can’t imagine anything you’ve got to say would be any harder to believe.”

“You have a point,” Zaidan said.

Unseen by Wes and Zaidan, Rocky had just arrived at the Youth Center, having teleported in after the monster fight, hoping to find Zaidan there having a smoothie. He grinned as he spotted Zaidan and Wes, but before he could move a muscle, the whole building shook and he could hear several loud bangs of thunder.

“What’s going on?” Wes asked. “Rita’s monster was just destroyed, surely she wouldn’t send another one down this soon. Earthquake?”

Zaidan’s whole face drained of color, as he said, “It’s no earthquake. It’s Lord Zedd. My sire.”

Rocky heard what Zaidan said, but before he could investigate any further, his communicator went off and Alpha asked him to teleport to the Command Center. _‘I’ll find out what Z is talking about later,’_ Rocky thought, as he teleported.

-o-0-o-

A few minutes earlier in the Command Center, the alarms began blaring as Alpha said, “Ay, yi, yi, yi!”

“Alpha, activate the intergalactic scanners.”

“Right away Zordon,” as he moved to the nearby control panel.

“If my suspicions are correct, we may have some very dire circumstances to deal with,” Zordon said. “Contact the Power Rangers at once.”

“Yes, Zordon. I’ll locate them and send them orders to teleport here immediately.”

-o-0-o-

Back up on the moon, Goldar entered the new Chamber of Command and solemnly marched over to an empty platform in the center of the room. Squatt and Baboo were watching from a nearby balcony that overlooked the chamber, but were soon teleported off of it and into a side chamber with a peephole in the wall to let them see what was going on in the main chamber.

After a moment, a bright bolt of lightning struck the center of the empty platform, causing Goldar to shield his eyes as a large stone throne appeared in a cloud of smoke, with a large letter ‘Z’ engraved on the back of it, which glowed for a moment, before it began turning around to reveal Lord Zedd, as Goldar said, “I welcome you back, my Emperor.”

Lord Zedd said nothing as he sat on his throne and stretched his hands, as liquid, presumably blood could be seen flowing through the clear tubes that were visible under the silver exoskeleton that covered his red, muscular body. Goldar cowered as a large snake appeared, crawling over Zedd’s body for a moment. Once it was in both of his hands, Zedd stood and raised the snake aloft, as it glowed red, before straightening out and turning into a large silver staff with a Z on the top of it.

Pointing at Goldar, Zedd then said, “I am Lord Zedd. Identify yourself.”

“Excellency, surely you remember me: Goldar, your faithful servant.”

“Ah yes, Goldar, the groveling one.”

“I surrender myself to obey you only,” Goldar said, as he dropped down on one knee for a moment, before standing back up and saying, “It is good to have you back, Lord Zedd.”

“Your spineless, sniveling attitude leads me to believe that you will serve me well,” Lord Zedd proclaimed, as he raised his staff. “For that I will restore to you what was once taken away.”

Moments later, a pair of large black and gold wings appeared on Goldar’s back, and he said, “Lord Zedd, I thank you. You will not regret this.”

“See that I don’t,” Zedd said, before turning away and saying, “Now, where are the earthlings that the incompetent Rita Repulsa was unable to defeat?” As he asked this, the red cover over his eyes glowed and a column of red light went down to Earth, allowing him to x-ray the planet and see what was happening on the surface as clearly as if he was there, proving that he didn’t need such mundane things as a telescope to spy on the rangers.

After a moment, another voice said, “Oh my brave and powerful Lord Zedd, what a pleasant surprise,” as Rita entered the room. “How can I be of service to you,” as she came up beside Goldar and hissed, “Traitor,” at him. She then promptly got down on her knees and added, “Oh Lord Zedd, give me another chance. I will not fail again!”

“Quiet!” Zedd shouted, obviously angry. “Those Power Rangers are nothing but mere infants! You were defeated by children! You dare call yourself an Empress of Evil? You’re not fit to destroy a cockroach!”

“I have always said that, my Lord,” Goldar said.

“You gold bellied rat!” Rita shrieked at Goldar, who just laughed at her.

“You have made me very angry,” Zedd said, as his whole body and shortly thereafter the floor and walls of the entire room started glowing bright red.

Spying from the side chamber, Squatt said to Baboo, “Oh how very interesting. The Chamber of Command changes its color along with Lord Zedd’s mood.”

-o-0-o-

"Rangers, the thing I have feared most has happened," Zordon said a couple of minutes later after all the rangers had arrived and he looked down on the team from his tube. "Lord Zedd has returned."

"Who’s Lord Zedd?" Billy asked, having never heard that name before.

 _‘Lord Zedd?’_ Rocky thought. _‘Isn’t that the name Z said before I teleported?’_

"Rita and her minions' lord and master,” Zordon responded.

"You mean there's someone worse than Rita?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm afraid so,” Zordon said. "Lord Zedd has been ruling over darker places within another galaxy. Eons ago, he left Rita in charge to carry out his orders. Since she has failed to do so..."

"He's come back to finish the job," Aisha finished, as Zordon nodded.

"Will we be able defeat him, Zordon?" Tommy asked.

"I do not know," their mentor said. “Alpha and I constructed the Thunderzords as a contingency if Lord Zedd ever showed up, although now that they’ve been pressed into service against Rita, it’s possible that your zords may not be powerful enough to defeat Lord Zedd's magic."

"Lord Zedd's power is unlike anything we've ever seen before," Alpha said.

-o-0-o-

“So, poor old Zordon is still around, is he?” Zedd said, as Rita cowered in front of Zedd, pressing her hand to her lips and then putting the hand she’d just kissed against Lord Zedd’s feet. “He’ll soon realize that his pitiful teenage good-doers are no match for me.”

“Might I suggest that we send down a group of putties to attack the rangers?” Goldar asked. “They will be easy prey.”

Zedd laughed maniacally at this suggestion, before pointing at Goldar and saying “Your putties are as useless to me as you are. I have my own army of putties, the likes of which you have never seen. Observe you simpering fool!”

As he said this, Zedd’s whole arm began glowing with red and white lightning which quickly traveled up and down his staff, which he pointed off to one side of the room and caused a stream of lightning to come out of the Z as a new, sleek, grey putty appeared out of thin air, followed by several more. What set them apart from Rita’s is that they were a shinier grey color and wore a shield around the chests with a large letter Z on them. They also wore black gloves and had a black mask covering their faces.

“And now to energize them, ha, ha, ha!” Zedd shouted once he’d created six of them out of thin air and sent another stream of lightning at the newly create putties, making the Z’s on their chests glow bright white.

Watching silently for a moment, Rita finally said, “Oh Lord Zedd, please let me send down another monster—I’ll prove to you that I can finish the job!”

“I don’t think so!” Goldar exclaimed.

“Zip it you gold monkey,” Rita shot back.

Leaning down slightly from where he towered over Rita’s cowering form, Zedd said, “Your days of control are over. There will be no second chances.”

“Can’t we talk?” Rita asked, clearly desperate.

“Silence! I have spoken,” Zedd answered, as Rita stood and rubbed her eyes as she cried.

Raising his staff, red and white lightning again visible on it, he said, “I hereby strip you of your powers that you’ve squandered!” As he said this, a stream of lightning shot out of his staff and hit Rita’s staff, which flashed for a second before it disintegrated. A moment later, he said, “Putties! Bring our fallen Empress her traveling vehicle!”

Rita’s eyes widened as she moaned, “Oh not again!” as two putties carried out a bronze cylindrical container otherwise known as a space dumpster, which until several months ago when she’d arrived in Angel Grove and started attacking, Rita had been trapped inside of with her other minions for 10,000 years until a pair of astronauts had found it on Mars and opened it, inadvertently releasing her.

“Yes, her traveling vehicle, good,” Goldar said, clearly pleased by this turn of events.

Rita was clearly panicking, as she said, “No, no, please this can’t be happening!” as the putties put the dumpster down on the ground next to her.

“You are now and forevermore banished from this place and from my sight!” Zedd exclaimed as he raised up his staff and sent a stream of lightning at Rita, who quickly began shrinking.

“Ah! Oh I’m shrinking!” Rita cried out. “I’m shrinking like a putty!” It wasn’t long before she stood no taller than the small clay molds of putties or monsters that Finster molded and put through the Monstermatic to animate.

Goldar laughed as he came over and picked up Rita in one hand, as she shouted, “You won’t get away with this!” as Zedd leaned back and threw his head backwards, as he laughed loudly, while Goldar removed the lid from the space dumpster and placed a protesting Rita inside. Before he placed the lid back on, he said, “It’s been fun!” and closed the lid even as Rita shrieked, “Let me out of here!”

“And now I’ll hurl you into the farthest regions of the universe,” Zedd said. “Putties?” Two putties quickly picked up the dumpster and began carrying it towards the balcony that overlooked Earth.

Zedd laughed as he sat down on his throne as Rita’s cries from inside the dumpster could he heard, “You’ll pay for this, Lord Zedd!”

“Hurry putties,” Zedd said, as he tapped his silver-clawed fingers on the arm of his throne. “Time is wasting!” As he said this his arm and staff began glowing with lightning again, as the putties reached the balcony railing and held the dumpster up. Moments later, the stream of lightning from Zedd’s staff hit it and sent it flying as Rita’s voice shouted in a cackling voice, “I’ll be back! You haven’t seen the last of Rita Repulsa!”

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter Seven of ‘Breaking the Cycle’. So, Rita’s gone and Lord Zedd has arrived. And apparently, Zaidan knows him, but the question is, how? Stay tuned for the answers in the next chapter.
> 
> Also, I’d like to give a shout out to JJFicFreak, the one and only person who reviewed the last chapter on FFNet. And to Kevin Diamond and Tetractys, the two reviewers on Archive of Our Own. As well as Eagle_Lion_Dolphin who contacted me via email with their review. I guess my three Harry Potter fics have spoiled me in terms of reviews, but it was kind of depressing getting only four reviews total for the last chapter. Oh well, I’m not complaining, as I truly do appreciate every one of my readers, whether they let me know that they’re enjoying the story or not. Although, seeing as how this is fanfiction, I would only remind you that I’m not allowed to make money off of it and thus your reviews are basically payment for the time I spent writing it and can also serve as encouragement for me to write faster. Although, I admit part of the delay over the last month or so has been due to it being the busy season at my day job, which thankfully will soon be over.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter @JVascardi.


	10. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
Written by J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

_Previously in ‘Breaking the Cycle’…_

-o-0-o-

Rocky and Zaidan had a bit of fun in Rocky’s bedroom, but were interrupted by Rocky’s communicator which unknown to Rocky led to Zaidan finding out the secret that Rocky and his other friends have been keeping: that they’re the Power Rangers. Meanwhile, up on the moon, Finster has determined that Zaidan isn’t from any planet in the Milky Way Galaxy and says they’ve moved on to searching Andromeda and Triangulum. Scorpina thinks she found something in Triangulum, but before she can reveal what she found, Lord Zedd shows up and takes over, banishing Rita to a space dumpster for her failure to take over Earth. Rocky overhears Zaidan talking about Lord Zedd with Wes, but is summoned to the Command Center before he can figure out just how his boyfriend is familiar with the lord and master of Rita and her minions.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Eight

-o-0-o-

Moments after Rita’s space dumpster disappeared from sight, Zedd said, “Now that the trash is taken care of, it’s time to finish off the Power Rangers. Send down my putties!”

“Yes, Lord Zedd,” Goldar said, as he hurried off to do as his new master commanded.

A moment later, Scorpina entered the room and said, “Lord Zedd, sir?”

“Who are you?” Zedd asked.

“Scorpina, my lord.”

“And what do you want?”

“Just before your arrival, Rita had us all working on tracking someone for her,” Scorpina said.

“Yes, yes, I’m already aware of that, Scorpina,” Zedd said in an impatient tone. “Why do you think I chose now to return? I detected your scans on what the earthlings call the Triangulum Galaxy and decided to check up on Rita. The one thing I’m not clear on is what exactly you were hoping to find.”

“There’s a boy on Earth, sir,” Scorpina revealed. “Named Zaidan Prince. He has magic and Rita was hoping to learn his secrets in order to gain control over him and use him as a weapon against the rangers.”

“Hmm,” Zedd said after a minute, before he activated his vision and zoomed in to find Zaidan on Earth. After a moment, he said, “My, isn’t this interesting. Prince Zaidan Willum. Earth is just about the last place I would have expected to find Queen Katrina Nerissa’s younger son. I knew he’d escaped the destruction of the planet, but I never expected to find him here. And you say he has magic?”

Scorpina nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“How very interesting,” Zedd said. “His race is known for their telepathic and empathic abilities, but magic? That is not something he should have.” After a moment, he added, “This bears further investigation. See to it, Scorpina.”

Scorpina bowed. “Yes, my lord.”

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, down at the Command Center, Rocky was just about to bring up to the other rangers what he’d overheard Zaidan say when the alarms went off and Alpha said, “Ay, yi, yi, rangers come quick.”

“What is it, Alpha?” Tommy asked, as the rangers turned away from Zordon and moved closer to Alpha, who was watching something on the viewing globe.

“Look,” Alpha said, as he pointed at the globe.

“It’s Bulk and Skull,” Billy said, as they all saw the two school bullies standing in the park surrounded by putties.

Turning back towards Zordon, Kimberly said, "Those don't look like your average putties."

"They're Lord Zedd's new army of putties," Zordon said. "They may be significantly harder to defeat."

“This attack was probably meant for us,” Adam said.

“We’ve gotta get there before they hurt Bulk and Skull,” Aisha said and the others nodded.

Tommy nodded. “It’s morphing time!”

Moments later, all six rangers were suited up and teleporting to the park.

-o-0-o-

Over at the Youth Center, Zaidan apparently thought better of telling Wes what he wanted to say in the hallway of the Youth Center and pulled his friend out to the parking lot. Since he’d teleported there, Zaidan didn’t have his car or his bike with him, although Wes had his, which the two teens were soon mounting, with Zaidan driving since the bike technically belonged to him. Wes wasn’t going to complain, however, as while they’d both chosen to be nothing more than good friends, that didn’t meant that he didn’t still enjoy holding Zaidan or having a certain part of his anatomy nestled against his friends’ rear end.

“It’s Greg and Mike’s day off, so they’ll be out of the house,” Zaidan said as he started the bike. “So I’ll tell you what I have to say back at the house.”

“Okay,” Wes agreed.

However, the bike hadn’t moved more than a few inches when Zaidan placed a hand on his head and whispered, “Rocky.” Moments later, he disappeared in a flash of purple, leaving Wes alone on the bike.

“I hate it when he does that,” Wes said. And then since he was already sitting astride a running motorcycle with his helmet on, he decided he may as well head back home to Zaidan’s house and wait for him there. So scooting forward on the bike, he grabbed the controls and did just that.

-o-0-o-

Unfortunately for the rangers, just as Zordon had predicted these putties were stronger than Rita's. Tactics that had worked well on her's simply didn't work with these. Usually when her putties went down they stayed down, but these just kept getting back up and continuing to fight.

"I don't know how much more of this we can take," Adam said as the battle began to go on for a far longer period than any battle they’d ever fought with putties had ever lasted previously. “These guys are a lot tougher than Rita’s.”

Hiding in the bushes nearby, making sure that not only the rangers but Bulk and Skull didn’t see him, Zaidan watched his morphed friends fighting Lord Zedd’s putties. _‘They’re getting their asses handed to them.’_

"Damn it," Tommy whispered as he could feel his powers beginning to react to the strain of a prolonged battle. Collapsing to the ground he didn't see the putty that was practically right next to him until it hit him, knocking him over.

Reaching out with his senses, Zaidan could tell that Tommy’s powers were getting dangerously weak. He wasn’t sure why, but at the moment, that didn’t matter. _‘I have to help them, but as much as I want to jump up and join the fight, I know I can’t do that in front of Bulk and Skull—they can’t see me doing something that the Rangers can’t do.’_

Concentrating hard, Zaidan pointed his hand at Tommy and thought, _‘Please let this work,’_ as he sent a bolt of his own energy at Tommy as he thought about recharging Tommy’s ranger powers. From his immediate reaction, Tommy had obviously felt the upturn in his power levels, but before he could think on it too much, Zaidan decided to give him something else to think about by magically grabbing a hold of Tommy’s hand, making it ball into a fist, and then punching the Z on the chest of the nearest putty, which promptly broke apart.

Standing up, Tommy yelled to his teammates, "Guys, I figured out their weakness! Aim for the Z on their chest!"

A round of affirmatives from the other rangers was followed by several more putties breaking apart as the rangers began fighting with a sense of renewed hope, hitting the Z whenever they had a clear shot. Once all the new putties were down for the count and the rangers had checked to make sure that Bulk and Skull were okay, they teleported away. Zaidan stayed hidden in the bushes long enough to overhear Bulk telling Skull about how they’d just heard the rangers’ voices and that they were going to figure out who they really were and how they’d make a fortune and be famous when they did that.

 _‘I don’t think so, guys,’_ Zaidan said, as he sent a telepathic mind wipe their way which would erase their recollections of the last few minutes. While it was true that he’d never received the advanced training in the mind arts back home, he was still capable of doing this on Bulk and Skull because he could tell that neither of them had any training in the mind arts. He never would have gotten away with it if he tried it on another member of his race, but considering he was the last one, that wasn’t really an issue.

With Bulk and Skull handled, Zaidan concentrated on Rocky and sensed where he was. _‘At the ranger’s command center,’_ he thought. _‘I guess it’s time I dropped in and finally had a heart to heart with my friends the rangers.’_ Moments later, Zaidan was gone in a flash of purple.

-o-0-o-

"Those new putties were tough," Kimberly said.

"I'm sure Lord Zedd didn't expect you to discover their weakness so quickly," Zordon said, approval in his tone.

"Yeah, good job finding it, Tommy," Adam said, as he clapped his boyfriend on the back and smiled.

"It wasn't me," Tommy said.

"What?" Aisha asked.

"My powers started failing," Tommy said. "Then suddenly I felt a jolt of energy that recharged my powers and it felt like some invisible force grabbed my hand, made me make a fist and hit the Z. I never would have found it that quickly otherwise. If it wasn't for that jolt of energy I probably would have demorphed."

"Alpha, run a scan on the white ranger," Zordon ordered.

"Right away, Zordon," as he pressed several keys on one of the consoles, and Billy walked over to look at the scan results.

Shaking his head in confusion, Billy said, "That extra jolt of energy you got - if I didn't know better I'd almost think it was from Lord Zedd."

"Zedd?" Aisha asked. "He wouldn't recharge Tommy's powers or show him how to defeat his own putties."

"I know, that wouldn't make any sense," Billy said. "However, according to these readings Lord Zedd's power signature is almost identical to the signature that was the source of the power surge that recharged Tommy. There are some small differences though."

Before anyone could comment, the alarms went off and the rangers turned towards the viewing globe only to see nothing.

"Alpha, what's going on?" Kimberly asked. "Why are the alarms going off?"

"We have an intruder in the command center," Alpha said after a moment’s pause.

"Huh, guess I must have missed one of your security systems," a voice everyone recognized said, as Zaidan Prince walked out of the shadows. “Sorry to just drop in like this, but I figured it was time we all had a heart to heart.”

"Zaidan?" Tommy asked, clearly surprised. "What are you doing here? How'd you get in here?"

"How'd you even know how to get here?" Adam added.

Before Zaidan could say anything, Rocky said, “I hope I’m wrong, but I think he’s working for Lord Zedd.”

“What?” Zaidan asked, a hurt look on his face.

“I heard you talking to Wes in the hallway of the Youth Center,” Rocky explained. “You said Lord Zedd and called him sire.”

“And because of one overheard comment you think I’m working for that psychotic bastard?” Zaidan asked, as he walked over to Rocky and pushed him against one of the consoles. “I thought you knew me better than that, but apparently I was wrong.” Looking at the others, he added, “I do not now nor will I ever serve Lord Zedd. I’d kill myself first.”

"So you do know him, though?" Adam asked.

"Yes, you could say that," Zaidan said. "However, I’m guessing when Rocky heard me say sire he assumed I meant it as an honorific for my liege. That is one definition of sire, but it isn't the only one."

Billy gasped and everyone turned to him as he said, "Sire can also be used to refer to one's father."

"Wait, father?" Aisha asked, before she looked at Zaidan, "Zedd is your father?"

“Unfortunately yes,” Zaidan answered. “You see, I’ve been keeping a secret from all of you, because I didn’t feel like it was the appropriate time to tell you. It’s not something I go around telling people the moment I meet them because most people would think I’m certifiably insane. Others, however, would think that I need to be locked up in a government lab somewhere to be dissected.”

“I don’t understand,” Tommy said, and one could see the conflict on his face as he clearly wasn’t sure if he should be attacking Zaidan or not. He had, after all, just admitted to being the son of Rita’s boss and he’d been able to enter the Command Center without a power coin, something which wasn’t supposed to be possible. On the other hand, Tommy considered Zaidan to be a friend and it was those feelings that were staying him from any violent action.

The other rangers all had similar looks on their faces, as Billy said, “Perhaps you’d better explain.”

“I’m not human,” Zaidan revealed. “In fact, I’m not even from this galaxy. I was born on the planet Kalrad in the Vyincourd Galaxy, although here on Earth it’s called M33 or Triangulum.”

“Triangulum was the galaxy that Zedd was in before he came here,” Zordon revealed.

“Indeed, he ruled the entire galaxy with an iron fist,” Zaidan said. “Wouldn’t hesitate to destroy anyone who stood in his way. Of course, that doesn’t mean that he wouldn’t make sure that they had outlived their usefulness first. My people don’t use surnames. We only use two names, what would commonly be called a first and middle name here on Earth. Thus, Prince is not my surname, but actually my title.”

“Are you saying you’re a prince?” Kimberly asked.

Zaidan sighed. “Yes, Kim. My official title is His Most Serene and Honorable Highness Prince Zaidan Willum of Kalrad. I’m the second-born son of Her Majesty Queen Katrina Nerissa, who was the ruler of the entire planet, in addition to the colonies on five of Kalrad’s seven moons and two other planets in our solar system. Of course, thanks to Lord Zedd, I’m the only Kalradian still living.”

“What happened to the others?” Aisha asked.

“They were all killed,” Zaidan answered. “Kalrad was at one time a paradise world. Everyone in the galaxy dreamed of vacationing there or for some, even moving there. That is, until Lord Zedd showed up and began taking over. He enslaved my people and forced us to gather the resources of our planet for his use. It took over a decade but between Zedd’s magic, the strip-mining and deforestation what was once a paradise was reduced to a poisonous wasteland no longer capable of supporting life.”

Falling silent for a moment, Zaidan then added, “Between Kalrad and our colonies, there were once nineteen billion Kalradians but thanks to Lord Zedd, there’s only one left and I’m only half Kalradian. You see, Lord Zedd is my father due to him brutally raping my mother, who wouldn’t have laid with him willingly if he was the last man in the universe. The fact that she preferred women had nothing to do with it, however, as Zedd was far too much of an evil megalomaniac for her tastes.”

“So, no offense, but if Zedd is your father, why aren’t you evil?” Adam asked.

“None taken,” Zaidan said with a sigh. He’d honestly expected that question and would have thought something was seriously wrong if someone didn’t ask it. Especially since he was talking to the Power Rangers. “The reason is because my mother hid my true parentage from Zedd, so he doesn’t know that I’m his son. In fact, I didn’t even know it until my mother finally told me a year before Kalrad’s final destruction. I was raised to believe and Zedd was fooled into thinking that my mother’s wife, Princess-Consort Isabella Giselle was my other parent.”

“I take it Kalrad figured out a way for two people of the same gender to have biological children together?” Billy asked.

“If you’re thinking we had some kind of advanced medical or scientific breakthrough, you’d be wrong, Billy,” Zaidan answered. “Kalradians have the ability to reproduce sexually, just as humans do, but we also have the ability to reproduce asexually. We can literally join our mind with another person and create a mental link which brings pleasure but also impregnates the initiator of the link. The gender of the initiator has no bearing on their ability to get pregnant and thus there was no stigma attached to two men or two women being together. Because of this and a very open-minded culture, about half the populace of Kalrad identified themselves as being bisexual, with the rest roughly split between being straight and gay."

“So, you’re saying that you can get pregnant?” Rocky asked, his eyes as wide as dinner plates, showing that he was clearly shocked by this information.

Zaidan nodded. “Yes, although I should add that Kalradian males can’t be impregnated through sexual intercourse, as we don’t have ovaries and thus no eggs. However, with the right telepathic link, we can create a child through the power of our minds alone, by combining our own genetic structure with that of another person’s, gender being irrelevant. Twelve months later, a baby is born, and yes I said twelve, not nine, as Kalradians have a longer gestation cycle than humans.”

Everyone was quiet for a moment, before Tommy asked, “Okay, but how did you get in here? How did you even know that we were the rangers?”

“That’s a very recent development, I assure you,” Zaidan answered. “I only just figured that out earlier today, although I had my suspicions.”

“Suspicions?” Adam asked.

Zaidan nodded. “Perhaps nobody else has noticed it but all six of you are obsessed with wearing the colors that I now know are your ranger colors. Because Adam, I don’t think I’ve ever seen year wearing an outfit that wasn’t predominantly black. The same can be said for all of you. At first I thought ‘well, maybe they just really like those colors.’ But in the back of my mind I just couldn’t help but think that there was more to it than that. I mean I’ll be the first to admit that my favorite color is purple, but my entire wardrobe is not made up entirely of purple clothes.

“Other than that, of course, there was also those strange watches you all wear. At first I didn’t think anything of them, but after a few months of hearing them go off and then getting mostly lame excuses for why you suddenly had to leave got very annoying. Not to mention the fact that invariably the rangers always seem to show up not long after your watches start beeping. Of course, even with all of that, I never seriously thought that you were the Power Rangers. That realization didn’t come until earlier when I was at Rocky’s house.”

“What do you mean?” Rocky asked, squirming a bit as he could feel the other rangers shifting their gazes to him.

“Kalradians are gifted in the mind arts,” Zaidan explained. “From my mother, I’m naturally telepathic and empathic. So I can read minds, sense emotions, and even converse with other telepaths entirely in thoughts. Of course, I was only thirteen when I left Kalrad following its destruction and I wasn’t due to start the more advanced training until I was sixteen, so I only know the basics. As a result, I can shield my mind to prevent the emotional overload that would result in being able to feel the emotions of everyone around me and I can also read minds, but mostly just the surface thoughts. I never really learned how to probe people’s minds and learn their deepest, darkest secrets, so I can’t learn anything that you’re actively trying to hide.”

“So how did you find out we were the rangers?” Aisha asked.

“Rocky and I were doing boyfriend things this morning,” Zaidan said, as both he and Rocky blushed at that revelation. “Suffice it to say that neither one of us was very pleased when Rocky’s watch beeped and he had to leave. Not realizing that I’d be able to hear what he was thinking he cursed Rita for the interruption and then gave me a lame excuse about a previous appointment that he’d forgotten about. I left and I was halfway down the stairs when I thought that I’d been a little too harsh in my response to the excuse, so I doubled back and was going to apologize.”

Rocky’s eyes widened. “You mean?”

“Yeah, Rocky,” Zaidan confirmed. “I overheard you talking to Zordon and then I saw you morph and teleport out. With your back turned to your bedroom door, you never saw me.” After a moment, he added, “Ever since I first heard the name I’ve been thinking that the name Zordon sounded familiar somehow and I just realized that I’d overheard my sensei and one of my tutors talking a few times and the name Zordon of Eltar had come up more than once.” Zaidan’s face fell slightly, as he said, “I realize now that they were talking about Zedd’s attacks on our galaxy and wishing that we’d had someone like you, Zordon. Someone who could have organized a defense. Unfortunately, we didn’t and the entire galaxy fell under Zedd’s dominion, which let me tell you is not fun.”

Everyone was quiet at this as they all felt the need to take some time to digest what Zaidan had just said. Even Zordon looked contemplative, possibly thinking about an entire galaxy in which Zedd had won. It was definitely a very scary thought.

Breaking the silence, Zaidan said, “By the way, after you all left, I used my mind powers to wipe the memories of your battle with the putties from Bulk’s and Skull’s minds. Bulk was going on about how they’d heard your voices and they were going to use that to figure out who you really were, because he figured it would bring them fame and fortune to unmask you.”

“Thanks,” Tommy said. “Wait, you were there?”

Zaidan nodded. “Yeah, Tommy, I was there, hiding in the bushes. I saw everything and it was me who gave you that jolt of energy and directed your hand.”

“You can do that with just your mind?” Adam asked.

Shaking his head from side to side, Zaidan said, “No, I did that with magic,” as he held his right palm upward and a small ball of purple lightning appeared in it. “Kalradians don’t have magic, but I guess I had to get something from Zedd. I just thank heaven it wasn’t his looks, because he’ll never win a beauty contest.”

“So that’s why your power signature is almost identical to Zedd’s,” Billy said. “We detected some small differences but we were confused because when we scanned Tommy after he told us it initially looked like Lord Zedd was the one who recharged his powers.”

“No, that was me,” Zaidan confirmed. “As for my powers being nearly the same as Zedd’s, my mother speculated on her death bed that that was why I was able to survive when everyone else on the planet didn’t, because I was largely immune to Zedd’s magic, since mine is so similar to his. Fear that he’d find out about my true parentage led my family to encourage me not to use my magic, so I’m not very good with it, although I did master teleportation magic and that’s how I got myself off Kalrad and here to Earth.”

“You teleported here from another galaxy?” Aisha asked.

“Not directly,” Zaidan said. “It took several jumps to populated worlds. Kalrad is situated on the outer rim of the galaxy, closest to this one, so I managed the initial jump between galaxies but it was nearly two weeks before I could go any further. I’ve gotten better at it in the ensuing years and it probably wouldn’t take quite as many jumps now as it did then, but I’m not sure I’d want to try another intergalactic jump because in addition to the power drain it gave me one hell of a headache.”

-o-0-o-

Later that day, having completely forgotten about Wes waiting for him back at the house, Zaidan arrived at the Youth Center and ordered a smoothie before sitting down at one of the tables and pulling out his English essay. He sat there quietly for a few minutes, proofreading the assignment that was due the following Monday, when he sensed Rocky entering the room. Zaidan didn't need to look up to know that upon entering the room, Rocky had scanned it and started heading in his direction as soon as he'd spotted him. Normally, the thought of being with Rocky would have brought a big smile to his face, however, after what happened earlier in the Ranger's Command Center, Zaidan really wasn't sure he wanted anything to do with the other teen.

A moment later, the sound of a chair moving alerted Zaidan that Rocky had arrived at his table. Sitting down and smiling, Rocky said, "Hey Handsome."

 _‘Oh is that how he's going to play it? Like nothing is wrong?’_ Zaidan thought to himself. Well, if the other teen wasn't even going to have the decency to apologize, then Zaidan saw no reason why he should even acknowledge his presence.

After a few moments of Zaidan ignoring him, Rocky's smile fell, replaced with a concerned look, as he asked, "Zaidan, are you okay?"

 _‘Oh yeah, I'm just peachy,’_ Zaidan thought bitterly. _‘My boyfriend accused me of being the pawn of an evil monster and now instead of apologizing, he's acting like it never happened.’_ In the back of his mind, he knew that Rocky had said that he hoped he was wrong, but that didn’t really lessen the sting of the accusation that he worked for the man who’d killed his family and destroyed his home.

After another minute in which the blond-haired teen said nothing, Rocky asked, "Come on, Z, talk to me," as he reached over and laid a hand on the other boy's arm.

Flinching away, Zaidan finally looked up at Rocky, anger clearly burning in his eyes, as he ground out, "Don't touch me."

"Man, what's wrong?" Rocky asked, a truly confused look gracing his face, which only served to further infuriate Zaidan.

"If you have to ask, Rocky," Zaidan said, "I really don't think I should dignify it with a response."

"You're clearly mad," Rocky said, at which point Zaidan snorted and asked in a derisive tone, "Oh you think?" Pressing on, however, Rocky said, "I just don't understand why."

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "Rocky, I've seen your grades, so I know you're a good student. Maybe not as good as Billy, but then few are. Anyway, you're a smart person, so stop acting like an airhead. You damn well know why I'm mad at you or at least you should."

"I really don't know," Rocky insisted. "I haven't done anything to warrant this reaction. All I said was hello and you're biting my head off."

For the first time since they'd met, Zaidan honestly wanted to strangle Rocky. "Either you're just stupid or your memory is worse than Tommy's." Before Rocky could retort, however, Zaidan shook his head and said, "Allow me to refresh your memory, ‘I think he’s working for Lord Zedd.’”

"That's what this is about?" Rocky asked.

"Yes, Rocky," Zaidan said. "We've known each other for over three months now and we've been dating for most of that time. I really wanted to think that in that time, you’d gotten to know me well enough to know that I’m a good person. I guess I was wrong, though, because you overhear me saying a few words to Wes and instead of coming to me and asking me about it privately, you jump to the conclusion that I'm an evil bastard's pawn. I didn’t even need to read your thoughts or sense your emotions to know that you and the others were suddenly scared of me and wondering if you needed to attack me, because I could see it in your expressions. So, yes, Rocky, I'm mad at you and I damn well think I have every right to be."

Before Rocky could say anything, his communicator went off. Not wanting to leave Zaidan angry at him, however, he did his best to ignore it, while he said, "Z, please, you have to believe me. I'm sorry. If I could take it back, I would. I love you."

That was the first time the 'l' word had been uttered by either of them. Zaidan had been feeling it for a couple weeks already, but he hadn't said anything to Rocky for fear of it scaring him away, as he couldn't help but think that it was too early in their relationship for such declarations. Of course, his experience with such things on Earth or even back home was somewhat limited since Rocky was his first serious relationship. Back home on Kalrad, it was common for couples to say 'I love you' after only dating for a fraction of the time that Zaidan and Rocky had been together, but then again, Kalradians created telepathic and empathic links with their partners that allowed them to get to know each other quite a bit faster than humans.

Any response that Zaidan might have had to Rocky's declaration was cut off by Rocky's communicator going off again. Looking around for a moment, Zaidan snapped his fingers and enclosed the table they were sitting at in a soundproof bubble, which was one of the first things he’d started practicing following his capture by Rita since he wanted to be able to practice his magic in the basement without Greg or Mike hearing it. With a sigh, he said, "You should answer that, Rocky. Don't worry nobody will be able to hear it, as I’ve taken care of that."

Rocky had seen the slight spark of what he assumed to be magic between Zaidan's fingers as he'd snapped them, so nodding, Rocky pressed the button and said, "Yes Alpha?"

"Rocky, you're needed at the command center," Alpha said. "Lord Zedd has sent down a monster."

Rocky sighed. He didn't want to leave things unfinished like this with Zaidan, as he really wanted to apologize, but he knew that his ranger duties were important. "I'm on my way, Alpha."

Before Rocky could close the communication link, Alpha added, "Zaidan, I know you're there. Zordon would like you to come to the command center as well."

"Fine, I'll be there with Rocky in a minute," Zaidan said, as he quickly packed up his homework and releasing the bubble, stood up with Rocky and walked over to a secluded corner. Before Rocky could hit the teleport button, however, Zaidan grabbed him and kissed him hard on the lips, before he said, "I love you, too, you big jerk. I'm still mad at you for not coming to me, but, I guess I can understand why you didn't, getting called to the command center and all. Just, in the future, I'd appreciate it if you could refrain from accusing me of being a pawn of the dark side without talking to me first."

"Of course, Z, I really am sorry," Rocky said, as he placed a quick kiss on Zaidan's lips, before he said, "We really should get going."

Zaidan nodded, as Rocky teleported out in a stream of red, with Zaidan disappearing seconds later in a faint glow of purple light. Moments later, they were in the command center with the other rangers, and Zordon said, "Rangers, Lord Zedd has created a monster out of a fish from the Rampoon River. My sensors indicate that it was a piranha now called Pirantishead."

"You mean as in man-eating?" Adam asked.

"I'm afraid so," Zordon said. "This monster has been sent to find you in Angel Grove. Zaidan, I asked you here because I'm hoping you can make sure Tommy's powers don't fail him."

Nodding, Zaidan walked over to Tommy and said, "It would be best if I stayed here as it was dangerous enough for me to do what I did earlier out in the open without alerting Zedd of my presence, although I somehow doubt that he doesn’t already know I’m here. Still it'd probably be best to keep me as the ace up your sleeves as long as possible. Anyway, I can create a telepathic link with you Tommy, that'll allow your powers to feed off of my magic if they need to. It should keep you at full strength."

"Thanks man," Tommy said, before he remembered what Zaidan had told them earlier and asked, "Um, Zaidan, this link isn't going to make a baby is it?"

"That is so not the type of link I was talking about, Tommy," Zaidan said. "I like you and all, but trust me I have absolutely no desire to carry your child. No, this is just a link that'll let you tap into my magic to keep your powers at full."

"Okay, just checking," Tommy said, before Zaidan raised his hands and placed them on either side of Tommy's head. Closing his eyes, Zaidan concentrated for a moment, before his hands began glowing purple. A moment later, Tommy swayed slightly on his feet, as Zaidan removed his hands and said, "I'd suggest you morph now, because morphed you'll be better able to handle the power I'm giving you. Your body isn't used to having this kind of power, but I think your ranger powers should be able to act as a regulator of sorts so that your body can deal with it better."

Nodding, Tommy said, "It's morphing time," as he and the other rangers took their normal positions and morphed, before teleporting out.

As the viewing globe activated to show the battle, Zaidan said, "It's different watching them fight like this. Normally, I'm watching it on TV, but even the live news feeds aren’t this close up. I imagine the news teams don’t have cameras close enough and don’t want to risk sending in a helicopter with a camera crew for fear the monster might attack it."

"Do you think they'll be able to defeat Pirantishead?" Alpha asked. He'd seen the readings on Zedd's power level and while he knew that Zordon had originally created the Thunderzords to battle Zedd, but due to the fact that they'd been pressed into service early to battle Rita after she stepped up her game plan, he knew it was possible that her minions might have been able to give Zedd enough data on them that he could overpower them.

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "Honestly? I don't know. I don't have much experience with rangers or zords. Kalrad didn't have either. I do wish we'd had them though, as maybe the planet wouldn't have been destroyed. Or at least, if my people had to die, they could maybe have gone out with some shred of dignity, instead of being turned into slaves forced to destroy their own home and ultimately themselves. As a member of the royal family, I was never really a slave as Zedd preferred that we be forced to watch our subjects suffer instead, although my family did their best to shield me from that."

"Their deaths are not your fault, Zaidan," Zordon commented, having picked up on the guilt that was evident in the young man's voice.

Turning and looking up at Zordon, Zaidan said, "I know that in my head, but in my heart, well, it's another matter entirely. I'm a Prince of Kalrad and all members of the royal family swear oaths to protect our people and I didn't do a very good job of that. I can't help but feel that I could have done more. I have power from Zedd and I'm mostly immune to his magic as a result. I should have done something."

"Zaidan, you were a baby or a child through most of Zedd's rule," Zordon said. "Even inheriting powers from him as you did, I assume you weren't born knowing how to use them, correct?"

"Correct," Zaidan said.

"So, for most of Zedd's rule you were a child who possessed power that he didn't know how to use," Zordon said. "I'm sure if your mother was alive right now she'd be telling you not to blame yourself for what happened to your planet and its people. It wasn't your fault, as it wasn't you who did any of it. It was all Zedd and beating yourself up about something that's already happened and can't be changed doesn't do you or anyone else any good."

Before Zaidan could say anything, Zedd threw down a grenade to Pirantishead, making him grow so that he was towering over the rangers, who had been fighting him on foot until now. The rangers immediately called for their zords and formed the Thunder Megazord and Tommy put the tigerzord into warrior mode, figuring that two against one would give them the advantage, but that soon proved wrong, when Pirantishead raised his fish-shaped flute and sent a wave of energy at the zords, causing an explosion that knocked both of them off their feet. Over the communication channel, Rocky's voice said, "Alpha, we're taking a beating here, we need more power."

"Oh hang in there rangers, I'm doing everything I can," Alpha said as he began turning knobs and pushing buttons on the control panels as fast as he possibly could.

"Alpha, proceed with caution," Zordon warned. "The power accelerator is almost at its peak level."

"Yes, Zordon," Alpha said, "but the zords' power banks are leaking power like a sieve. I need to try and siphon some power back into it." As he began pushing more buttons on the control panel, Alpha asked, "Zaidan, is there anything you can do?"

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, "No, Alpha. I can try to keep Tommy's powers stable by letting him feed off of my magic, but that's about it. The only reason I can even do that is because he's a living thing. The zords aren't alive, so I can't form a mental link to let them feed off my power. Besides, I'm sure they use a hell of a lot more energy then I know how to produce. If I had Zedd's thousands of years of experience and practice maybe, but as it is, I'm afraid I've done all I can."

"Oh my, ay yi yi yi," Alpha said, as he continued pressing buttons as fast as he could. For a few minutes, Alpha's modifications seemed to be working, but then, he shouted, "Ay yi yi yi, the controls are going crazy. I'm afraid to push the power accelerator any harder."

"Rangers," Zordon said, "the power accelerator is becoming increasingly unstable."

"Ay yi yi, ah!" Alpha exclaimed, as currents of electricity began appearing on the control panels and he got shocked.

"The flux of power could ultimately strip you of your ranger powers," Zordon warned over the communications link.

"That's a risk we're going to have to take," Tommy said, as Kimberly asked, "Zaidan, is there anything you can do?"

"As I already told Alpha and Zordon, no," Zaidan said. "The zords use a lot more juice than I know how to produce and even if I did, I can't form the necessary mental link with a machine."

"Let's see here," Alpha said as he again started pressing buttons, but only briefly before he jumped back as several consoles exploded in a shower of sparks and smoke began to fill the room. "Oh no! It's out of control. Zordon..."

"Alpha, you must find a way to stabilize the accelerator," Zordon said in a soothing, yet urgent tone, trying to calm his assistant down from his panicked state.

Pushing buttons and turning dials, Alpha said, "I'm trying but nothings working! The zords are going to blow up!" At this, several more control panels exploded and sparks and smoke shot out of every panel. Jumping away from one of the exploding consoles, Zaidan lost his footing and fell backwards into the viewing globe, hitting his head and dazing himself for a few moments as he struggled to get back to his feet.

At the same moment, the rangers were forced to abandon their zords, jumping out of the cockpits and falling to the ground, demorphing as they fell. They didn't have much time to wonder about what that meant, however, as they were soon watching in horror as several large explosions rocked the zords and they began breaking apart. Minutes later, all the rangers could do was walk among the wreckage of their zords, expressing disbelief at what they were seeing.

"We've got to get back to the command center," Kimberly said. "Maybe Alpha can find a way to fix them."

"If only it were that simple," Billy said. "It took years to build the zords. They can't be rebuilt overnight."

"We've fixed the zords in the past," Rocky argued.

Shaking his head, Billy said, "Those were minor repairs. This," as he motioned around at the wreckage, "is more than minor damage. They're going to have to be rebuilt from scratch."

"What's worse," Tommy said, "is it looks like we've lost more than our zords. We've lost our powers... completely."

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter Eight of ‘Breaking the Cycle’. I’m sure many of you probably hate me for ending it there, but everything has to end somewhere and that seemed like a good place to me. It does, however, mean that you’ll be left with a cliffhanger for a while, as per my update schedule, I’ll now be switching over to my Harry Potter story ‘Knights of the Founders’ for three chapters. This story is #2 on my schedule out of five, so it’ll be awhile before I circle back around to it, but I figure the rotating update schedule is better than concentrating solely on one story and leaving the others completely un-updated for months or even years.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group, or on Twitter @JVascardi.


	11. Chapter Nine

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
Written by J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

_Previously in ‘Breaking the Cycle’…_

-o-0-o-

Lord Zedd banishes Rita Repulsa from his sight in a space dumpster. He’s then informed by Scorpina of Zaidan Prince’s presence on Earth which surprises him as he recognizes him and wonders what he’s doing on Earth.

The Rangers fight Zedd’s new putties and quickly realize that they’re a lot stronger than Rita’s. Strong enough that Tommy’s powers almost fail him, but thankfully Zaidan was watching the battle from the cover of some nearby bushes and gave Tommy’s powers a jolt to recharge them before also making sure that he figured out the new putties’ weakness.

Later in the Command Center the rangers are shocked when Zaidan show up and reveals that he’s not human and that Lord Zedd is—unfortunately—his father. The rangers then go into battle against Pirantishead, only they end up destroying their zords and losing their powers in the process.

-o-0-o-

Chapter Nine

-o-0-o-

"What's worse," Tommy said, "is it looks like we've lost more than our zords. We've lost our powers... completely."

"Are you sure, Tommy?" Aisha asked.

Nodding sadly, Tommy said, "Yeah. I've lost powers before, so I know what it feels like. This feels like losing the green ranger powers all over again."

"It's going to be a long walk back to the command center," Billy said, but before he or anyone else could say anything else, they were all surrounded in a nimbus of purple light, before they disappeared, reappearing moments later in the command center.

At their confused looks, Zaidan said, "I figured I'd save you the walk and give you a lift."

Looking around the room, Billy inspected the destroyed control panels with a growing sense of dread, as he said, "Oh man, what a mess."

"Come on, Billy, give us some good news,” Tommy said.

"I wish I could," Billy said in a defeated tone. "I mean, we're talking about the command center's power core. I don't even know how to begin to repair it."

"That could take centuries," Alpha commented.

"Alpha, we don't have centuries," Kimberly said.

"What about our zords, can you bring them back, Zordon?" Adam asked.

"I'm afraid not. Since the command center's power is nearly depleted there's no way to revitalize your lost zords. I'm afraid this is the end of the power rangers."

"There's gotta be something we can do," Aisha said.

“Yeah, we can’t let Zedd win,” Rocky said, as he looked over at Zaidan and added, “Earth will not become another Kalrad. Not as long as I’m alive.”

Zaidan smiled weakly at Rocky for this, although the sense of hopelessness was already beginning to set in. He’d thought he’d found a new home on Earth, but now it was looking like his blasted sire was going to ruin it too. A part of Zaidan wanted to fight, but he knew that wouldn’t work because while he was getting better with using his magic when compared to Zedd, Zaidan was still a novice at best. He didn’t have anywhere near Zedd’s ten plus millennia of experience after all.

"What about the Great Power?" Alpha asked after a few minutes of silence, which prompted Zordon to shake his head and say, "No, Alpha, that’s out of the question. It's far too dangerous, especially now."

"What Great Power?" Tommy asked, as all eyes fell on Zordon.

With a sigh, Zordon said, "Legend speaks of a great power on the distant planet of Phaedos. Everything I've heard, however, suggests that this power doesn't actually exist and everyone who has tried to get it has failed and died."

"If there's even the slightest chance we have to try," Rocky said. "We can't just stand back and let Zedd destroy Earth."

Nodding, Adam said, "I have to agree. Zedd has wrought enough destruction. We need to fight him, but we need powers to do that."

Wrapping his arm around Adam’s waist, Tommy nodded and added, “I know you want to protect us, Zordon, but if we do nothing than Zedd will win and we’ll die anyway. Along with everyone else on Earth.”

"I understand how you feel rangers," Zordon said, "but understand this. The command center is almost completely out of power. While Alpha can probably scrape together enough power to get you to Phaedos, there won't be any left to get you back. So if it's as I believe and this power doesn't exist, you'll be trapped on Phaedos, which is over 2,500 light years from Earth on the outer edge of the galaxy."

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, as they digested that information. It was Zaidan who broke the silence, when he said, "They won't be trapped there, Zordon. If the power doesn't exist, I can get them back here. While I couldn't save the zords, I can do that."

"Are you sure?" Billy asked. "2,500 light years is quite the distance to teleport."

"True enough," Zaidan agreed, "but in case you forgot what I said earlier, I got here to Earth and the Milky Way via my own teleportation magic and Kalrad is over 2.7 million light years from Earth. The only wrinkle is that I'll have to go there with you, because in order to teleport you over that kind of distance, you'll have to be touching me."

Zordon sighed. "Zaidan going with you does ease my mind, rangers. I really do hope the power exists, but I'm afraid it doesn't. Beyond that, I have no idea what kind of dangers you might face on Phaedos and despite the fact that I have faith in you and your skills, you won't have any powers to protect you."

“I’ve seen them in action and they’re all quite able to defend themselves,” Zaidan said. “Powers or no powers. Plus, I’ll do what I can to keep them safe with my magic. I’m still learning and it’s kind of slow going since I’m self-teaching myself, but I’m pretty good at a few tricks that could help.”

Looking around at the faces of his teammates, Tommy nodded at each of them, and then at Zaidan, before he said, "Well then let's go. If there's a chance we can stop Zedd, then we have to do it, no matter what the risk."

-o-0-o-

Arriving on Phaedos, the group looked around for a moment to get a handle on their surroundings. They'd arrived on a stretch of rocky beach, with a tall cliff along the far end.

"Now what?" Kimberly asked.

"Now we find the Great Power," Tommy said.

“I’m sure that’s going to be easier said than done,” Rocky said. “It’s not like there’s signs that say ‘Great Power this way.’”

Zaidan grinned and said, “True. Plus, searching an entire planet could be very time consuming. Just because we’re here doesn’t mean we’re anywhere near it. For all we know we could be on a different continent than the so-called Great Power with an ocean between us and it.”

"And if Zordon's right?" Adam asked. "And it doesn't even exist?"

"In this case, let’s hope he isn’t right," Tommy said, as he wrapped an arm around Adam and gave him a peck on the cheek, before they turned to head further inland. They stopped, however, when Aisha screamed.

Running over to her, they soon saw why she'd screamed. There was a giant skeleton on the beach, the remains of some kind of horned creature. "What is it?" Aisha asked.

"I think the question is what was it?" Billy asked in response.

"From the looks of it," Zaidan said, "I'd almost think it was a minotaur." Scanning his eyes up the length of the skeleton, he then added, "A very large minotaur."

"Um, yeah, okay," Kimberly said. "Well, let's just hope that there aren't more of these things, you know, still alive."

“Also, let’s hope that whatever killed it isn’t still around,” Rocky added. “Cause if it was strong enough to take down that,” as he ran his eyes across the length of the skeleton that would probably stand at least fifteen feet tall if it was standing, “I’m not very comfortable about our chances.”

“Oh you’re just a beacon of sunshine aren’t you Rocko?” Aisha asked.

They'd barely walked more than a few feet, however, when Kimberly spotted a giant bird-like creature flying towards them and screamed, seconds before they were attacked. The birds were very strong and the rangers were soon having their butts handed to them. Outside of the stationary practice dummies in his basement, Zaidan had never used his magic in a fight before, so he was a little bit out of his depth at first, but he was able to get off a few good bolts of electricity out of his fingertips at the annoying birds and then use his magic to soften Kimberly's landing when one of the birds grabbed her and tried to drop her from a height that would likely have killed her.

"You know the funny thing about morphing?" Billy asked.

"What's that?" Adam asked.

"You don't miss it until you can't do it anymore," Billy said, before one of the giant birds lunged at him from the side knocking him to the ground.

After a few more minutes, even with Zaidan's magic, it looked like the rangers were going to be beaten because the damn birds were just too strong and if the rangers were going to stand any chance of winning, they needed their powers, something which they were at the moment sadly lacking. That, however, is when a hooded figure with a staff jumped down from a nearby cliff, throwing off the cloak to reveal a scantily clad woman underneath. She immediately began fighting the birds and after knocking several of them off their feet with her staff, she split it in two and began twirling the two sides around in her hands creating a sound similar to nails on a chalkboard.

Zaidan and the rangers quickly covered their ears to block out the sound, while the birds began to flee. Once they were gone, the woman put her staff back together as the rangers approached her. Holding out a hand towards the woman, Rocky said, "That was amazing. Thanks," just before the woman slapped his hand away with her staff, hard enough to almost knock Rocky off of his feet.

"If you want to thank me, go back to wherever it is you came from," the woman said.

"We can't go back," Aisha argued.

"We were told there was a Great Power here," Billy said. "Is it true?"

Nodding, the woman said, "Yes. The ground is littered with the bones of those who have tried for it and failed."

Walking forward, Tommy said, "Well, we're different. We won't fail." This caused the woman to promptly hit Tommy in the legs with her staff, causing him to fall backwards onto his back. Before he could get back up, she then slammed her staff into his chest and said, "Leave Phaedos, before you end up like all the other corpses on this beach." Raising her eyes to look at Zaidan, but keeping the staff firmly planted on Tommy's chest, she added, "Even his magic isn't going to be enough to get you the power you seek."

"Look, we don't want any trouble," Aisha said. "Our leader Zordon..."

She was cut off at this, however, as the woman immediately turned to look at her and asked, "Zordon? Did you say Zordon?"

"You know Zordon?" Kimberly asked. "Who are you?"

At this the woman took her staff off of Tommy's chest and allowed him to stand up, as she said, "I am Dulcea, Master Warrior of the planet Phaedos. How do you know Zordon?"

"He's our mentor," Tommy said. "We were until recently his team of power rangers." Motioning towards Zaidan, he added, "Well, Zaidan wasn't, but he came with us in case the Great Power rumored to be here didn't exist. Our command center only had enough power left to get us here because our powers were destroyed by Lord Zedd."

"Lord Zedd?" Dulcea asked, clearly worried.

"You've heard of him?" Billy asked.

"Lord Zedd is a monster," Dulcea said. "If something isn't done, your planet and this entire galaxy is doomed." Shaking her head, she then added, "However, I'm afraid you've wasted your time in coming here, because like so many other people before you, you will fail to claim the Great Power of the Ninjetti."

"Why?" Adam asked.

"There's enough power to create twelve rangers," Dulcea explained. "However, centuries ago the power for one ranger was claimed and that power has since fallen into the hands of an evil force. I don't know who controls it now, except that it is still in evil hands. Not wanting to see the other powers end up being used for evil, the original creators of them bound all of them together so that none of them can be claimed separately. In order to get the powers, you'll have to cross the Niola Jungle, at the far end of which is the Ninjetti Temple. The path is fraught with dangers designed to test you to ensure that you will use the powers for good and not evil. However, even if you passed those tests, you couldn't claim the powers because there's only seven of you."

"And all eleven remaining ranger powers have to be claimed at the same time by eleven different people," Tommy said, as realization hit.

"Yes," Dulcea said. "I'm sorry."

"Well, what if we brought more people here?" Zaidan asked. "One thing that’s confused me ever since finding out that you six were the rangers is that when I’d previously met the Red, Black, and Yellow Rangers, their voices were different,” looking at Rocky, he smiled and said, “and it definitely wasn’t Rocky’s voice coming from the Red Ranger. So aren’t there more rangers?”

Tommy nodded. “Those were our friends Jason, Zack, and Trini. They were the original Red, Black, and Yellow Rangers.”

"Rocky, Adam, and Aisha replaced them," Kimberly added, “when they were selected for the peace conference in Switzerland.”

“Well, they’ve obviously come back to help you before,” Zaidan said. “Couldn’t they come back again now?”

"If they were needed," Billy said, "I think they'd come back. I know Jason would. He wouldn't even have to think about it."

"That's only three more people, however," Adam pointed out. "Even if we take on Zaidan as a new ranger, we'd still only have ten."

"Before you ask," Dulcea said, as she noticed some of the teens looking at her, "I can't claim the eleventh power. I was charged by the creators of the power to act as guardian of this planet and guide to those who would try to claim the powers. But, one step into the Niola Jungle and I would begin to rapidly age to the point that there'd be nothing left of me but dust before we got even a fourth of the way to the temple."

"And I'm not entirely sure I'm a good ranger candidate, guys," Zaidan said.

“Why not?” Rocky asked. “I think you’d be great.”

“I appreciate that, Rocko,” Zaidan said with a grin, “but you’re my boyfriend so you’re kind of biased.”

“You’re a good guy, Zaidan,” Tommy said. “I know it didn’t seem like it earlier when you surprised us at the command center, but we all like and trust you,” the others nodded in agreement, “and you did help us defeat Zedd’s putties earlier and gave me that power boost.”

Zaidan nodded, although he was still looking dubious. “Yes, with my magic, which I’m afraid has probably left me too tainted to claim any of these Ninjetti powers.” At Dulcea's raised eyebrow, Zaidan added, "I’m not from this galaxy and Lord Zedd sired me when he raped my mother. It's why I have magic, because I inherited it from him. I've always done my best to be nothing like him, but I do still have his blood in my veins."

"It's you who would be tested, not your sire," Dulcea said. "Having his blood doesn't make you inherently evil. It's your actions and choices while being tested that matter, not your heritage."

"Come on, Z, say you'll do it," Rocky said, flashing Zaidan a smile.

"I can't resist your smile, Rocky," Zaidan said with a shake of his head. "Okay, okay, I'll try. If I can help stop Zedd, I want to. Not only because I want justice for my people but also because I’m so tired of running and Earth is my home now, so I don’t want to see it become another Kalrad."

"That still leaves us short one person though," Aisha said. "We can't just bring anyone in. They need to have at least a passable skill in the martial arts and it has to be someone that we can all trust. Any ideas?"

All of them were silent for a moment, before Tommy asked, “Well, what about Zaidan’s friend Wes?” Turning to Zaidan, he asked, “Didn’t you say that you met him through the martial arts activity at your old boarding school in Silver Hills?”

“Yes,” Zaidan said, before he looked embarrassed and said, “Oh damn it. I forgot all about Wes.”

“Huh?” Rocky asked.

“Earlier, before your battle with the putties,” Zaidan said. “Wes and I were astride his new motorcycle in the Youth Center parking lot, about to head home. Then I sensed Rocky was in danger and I just teleported away, leaving Wes alone. I was actually going to tell him that you guys were the rangers, but I never got the chance because after we left the command center, I forgot all about him and went back to the Youth Center.”

Rocky grimaced a bit, as he said, “Which is where I found you and where we still were when we were called for the battle that destroyed our powers and zords.”

“Yeah,” Zaidan said. “So, he’s probably going to be a little pissed off at me.”

“You’re close friends though,” Kimberly said. “And you did give him a place to stay after his Dad kicked him out, so I don’t think he’ll stay mad at you for too long.”

“More importantly do you think Wes would agree to be a ranger?” Adam asked.

Zaidan shrugged. “Honestly, I don’t know.” Here he grinned and said, “I mean, he did say that the spandex suits looked good on all of you, especially the males in the group. Which I am inclined to agree on,” grinning at Rocky, he added, “in your case especially.”

Rocky and the other guys blushed, as Zaidan said, “Although whether that means he’d want to be a ranger himself or not, I’m not really sure. He does know about my heritage and I’ve even let him actually watch my memories of Kalrad’s last days, so it’s possible he’d want to help if it means that doesn’t become Earth.”

“Well, I’d say it’s worth a shot then,” Aisha said, as several of the others nodded. “We’ll just have to convince Wes to join us.”

Tommy nodded. "Well, then it's settled. We'll go back to Earth, collect Jason, Trini, Zack, and Wes and then come back."

"Actually, I think it would be best if some of you stayed here," Zaidan said. "While I have every confidence that I could get all of you safely back to Earth, it would require a lot of power, especially if I have to turn around and bring all of you back, plus four more people. I'd probably end up in a coma for a month from the drain on my powers."

"Well, how about just Billy and I go with you, Zaidan?" Tommy said. "Between the two of us, I'm sure we can convince Jason, Trini, and Zack." Looking at Dulcea, Tommy asked, "Can you make sure the others remain safe while we're gone?"

"Yes, I can do that," Dulcea said. Pointing towards a path leading up the cliff she'd jumped down from earlier, she said, "When you get back, just head up that path. It leads to my camp on the plateau overlooking the jungle. Once you're all here, I'll prepare you for the journey through the jungle."

Nodding, Tommy said, "Sounds good," as he and Billy walked over to Zaidan.

"Alright, guys, just grab onto my arms," Zaidan said. "And hold on as tightly as you can."

Once Tommy and Billy were holding onto him, Zaidan closed his eyes and concentrated as hard as he could on his garage, as the three young men were surrounded by a nimbus of light, before disappearing.

-o-0-o-

Moments later, Zaidan, Tommy, and Billy appeared in Zaidan’s garage, right next to his Jaguar. While he knew that it was Greg’s and Mike’s day off, he wasn’t sure if they were back yet, so pulling out his phone, Zaidan dialed Wes’s number.

“Zaidan! Man, I’ve been so worried about you,” Wes said a moment later when he answered the phone.

“Sorry, Wes,” Zaidan said. “Are Greg and Mike back yet?”

“No.”

“Okay. Where are you?”

“My bedroom.”

“Are you decent?”

“Yes,” came Wes’s confused reply.

“Okay, be there soon,” Zaidan said, before taking the phone away from his ear so he didn’t hear Wes’s response. Since Tommy and Billy were still holding onto his arms, Zaidan teleported them again from the garage up to Wes’s bedroom.

“Gah!” Wes said as the three young men appeared in his bedroom a moment later. He was decent in terms that he wasn’t completely naked, although he was only in his underwear, so he was more than a little embarrassed that Zaidan wasn’t alone. If it was just Zaidan, he wouldn’t have cared as they’d seen each other naked, but Tommy and Billy had never seen Wes with so little clothing on.

Tommy and Bill let go of Zaidan’s arms as Wes stood up. Walking over to Zaidan, Wes punched him in the right arm and said, “That’s for teleporting into my bedroom with other people.” Then he punched him again in the left arm and said, “And that’s for teleporting away earlier and then forgetting about me.”

“I’m sorry, Wes,” Zaidan said, as he crossed his arms so that he could rub his arms were he’d just been punched. “It’s been a crazy day.”

Wes nodded. “Obviously. I wasn’t aware that they knew about your magic.”

“Yeah, I told them,” Zaidan said. “They also know about Kalrad.”

“Really? Wow,” Wes said. “I know you felt bad about keeping it from them, but what made you finally fess up?”

“Well you know how I said that Lord Zedd caused the earthquake earlier?”

“Yeah, why do you think I’ve been so worried?” Wes said. “When you didn’t come back I was afraid that evil freak show got you.”

“Sorry about that,” Zaidan said. “Anyway, to make a long story short, I was going to tell you that I found out who the rangers are.”

“You did?” Wes asked. “Who?”

“Tommy and Billy are two of them,” Zaidan said. “White and Blue, respectively.”

“What? No way!” Wes said. “They’re teenagers, like us.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Tommy said. “Billy and I are two of the rangers.”

“Aisha, Kimberly, Adam,” Zaidan named off, before grinning and adding, “and Rocky are the others. Yellow, Pink, Black, and Red to be precise.”

“You’re dating one of the power rangers?” Wes asked, obviously shocked.

“Yeah, I am,” Zaidan said. “Of course, now as you probably saw on the news, the rangers’ last battle with Lord Zedd’s first monster didn’t go so well.”

“Yeah that’s kind of an understatement,” Wes said. “They’ve been showing the footage of the zords breaking apart on the news in a loop for over an hour now.”

“The zords weren’t all that was destroyed,” Billy said. “We’ve lost our powers, as well.”

“Oh shit,” Wes said. “That’s bad.”

Zaidan nodded. “Yeah, it is, but they’ve got a lead on a new power source. Problem is, they need extra rangers. They’ve got three friends who are former rangers that they’re going to recall to service and I’ve agreed to join them, but we need one more.”

Realizing that the other three were all looking at him, Wes’s eyes widened and he said, “No way, are you seriously asking me? To be a power ranger?”

“Yes,” Tommy said. “I know this is very short notice, Wes, but the world kind of needs you.”

“You saw what Zedd did to Kalrad in my memories,” Zaidan added. “That’ll be Earth if we don’t stop him.”

Wes was silent for a moment, before he said, “Yeah, okay, fine, I’ll be a ranger. Just let me put some clothes on first,” as he walked over to his closet.

“We should probably quickly go over the rules,” Billy said. “Zaidan should hear them too.”

"Okay. What are they?" Wes and Zaidan asked in almost perfect unison.

"You can't use your ranger powers for personal gain," Tommy said. "You can't escalate a fight unless you're forced to do so by the enemy and you have to keep your identities a secret. Nobody can know that you're power rangers."

"If you break any of the rules, you'll lose the protection of the power," Billy added. What he didn't say, however, was that he wasn't entirely sure if that was still true or not. With the power coins, it was possible for Zordon to take a rangers powers away if they broke his rules. However, these new powers they were hoping to claim were an unknown entity that Zordon didn't believe even existed, so Billy wasn't sure Zordon would actually have the ability to strip anyone of their powers for breaking the rules he’d set. Still, even if he couldn't strip them of their powers, they'd all agreed to adhere to the rules when they became rangers and not doing so now just wouldn't feel right.

“Seems simple enough,” Zaidan said. “I’m rather good at keeping secrets, after all.”

Tommy grinned. “That you are. I’ve known you for a little over three months and never once did I imagine that you weren’t human.”

“Wes?” Billy asked.

“Yeah, I can deal with those,” Wes said as he pulled on a pair of jeans. “I doubt anyone would believe me if I told them anyway. As I rather doubt that anyone in Angel Grove thinks the rangers are local teenagers.”

“We’ve worked hard to keep that a secret,” Tommy said.

“That’s debatable but we can worry about that later,” Zaidan said. “Now, do you have some way of contacting Jason, Trini, and Zack?”

Billy nodded, as he held up the strange watch on his wrist. “Our communicators. They all still have theirs, although they’ve been set to a secondary channel so that they don’t go off whenever ours do.”

“Okay, then you should contact them,” Zaidan said. “Make sure they’re alone and not in a public place when I teleport us there. Also, I’ll need some sort of visual.”

“What kind of visual?” Tommy asked.

"Like a picture," Zaidan answered. "With something specific to them that I can focus on to ensure that we end up in the right place. They can email it to Wes."

Wes nodded as he pulled a t-shirt on over his head. As he sat down on the bed to pull on a pair of socks, he relayed his email address, which he was rather shocked still worked, since it was on the Bio-Lab corporate server. He guessed that his father figured that the email address didn’t cost him anything, however, so it didn’t matter if it was deactivated or not. Either that or he’d completely forgotten about it.

“Okay then,” Billy said as he switched his communicator over to the secondary channel, before pressing the button that would cause Jason’s communicator to beep.

-o-0-o-

Meanwhile, over in Geneva, Switzerland, due to the time difference, Jason Scott was in bed, fast asleep and enjoying a very naughty dream about Billy. This was cut short, however, as the familiar beeping noise of his communicator cut through the silence of the room. After over a year of being a ranger, Jason's senses were honed to their peak and no matter how soundly he was asleep he could wake up and be alert in less than a second at the sound of the communicator.

Reaching over and turning on his bedside lamp, Jason swung his legs off the bed as he sat up and pulled open the drawer of his nightstand. Grabbing the communicator, he pressed the talk button and said, "This is Jason."

"Jason, it's Billy," Billy said. "I need you to gather Trini and Zack. Get them to your room post haste. I also need you to email a picture of your dorm room,” before relaying Wes’s email address. “Make sure there's something distinctively yours in the picture that wouldn't be in any of the other delegates' rooms. I'll explain later."

"Okay, Billy," Jason said, not really understanding what was going on, but knowing it must be important if Billy was calling on the communicator. _‘Maybe they need our help again,’_ he thought, as he set the communicator on his nightstand and pulled on a pair of jeans before calling Zack's room.

A moment later, a very tired Zack Taylor picked up and said, "Whaddaya want? I'm tryin' to sleep here."

"Sorry, Zack, it's Jason. Billy just called on the communicator. He needs you and Trini to come to my room ASAP."

At the mention of the communicator, Zack sat up in bed, instantly more alert than he had been only moments earlier. While he knew that Billy and Jason were a couple and talked to each other daily, Billy never used the communicator, as they all agreed it should only be used for ranger business. If that meant Billy having a higher than usual phone bill from calling overseas on a daily basis then so be it, although Zack still wondered how the hell Billy was paying for it. Shaking his head to clear it, Zack said, "Okay, I'll get dressed and head right over."

"Thanks, man," Jason said, as he hung up and then called Trini, who said she'd be there soon. With his two friends on their way, Jason walked over to his desk and grabbed the Polaroid that his Mom had sent him for his birthday. She'd been quite upset about not being able to be with her son on his birthday, but she was proud of him for doing the peace summit. So, she sent him the camera and ordered him to take lots and lots of pictures so that she could see what he was doing over in Switzerland, a country which Pamela Scott had always wanted to visit, but never found the time to do.

Placing his Angel Grove letterman jacket on a chair by his desk, along with a picture of himself and the other rangers, Jason snapped a photo. As he was waiting for it to develop he booted up his computer, quickly made his bed, and tidied up around the room a bit so that he hopefully wouldn't have to listen to one of Trini's lectures about his room looking like a cyclone hit it. He was just about to sit down at his computer and scan the photo when there was a knock on his door. Opening it, he found both Zack and Trini, who he promptly let in.

"Billy isn't here yet?" Trini asked. "If he's using the communicator it must be ranger business. I thought he would have teleported over already."

"No, he isn't," Jason said as he closed the door and then scanned the photo into his computer. "I don't know what's going on. He just told me to get you two over here and to send a picture of my room to some guy I've never heard of. I trust Billy though, so if that's what he needs me to do, then I'm doing it."

Zack and Trini nodded, as Jason opened his email account, typed in the address, attached the scanned photo and hit send. Picking up the communicator, he pressed the talk button again and said, "Billy? Zack and Trini are here and I just sent the picture."

"Okay, thanks, Jase," Billy said. "Tommy and I will be there shortly with two friends. Stay clear of the center of the room."

About three minutes later, Jason, Zack, and Trini were confused when instead of the normal streaks of color they'd been expecting, a nimbus of purple light flashed, before Billy, Tommy, and another unknown guy showed up—all hanging onto…

“Zaidan?” Jason, Zack, and Trini all asked, as they obviously recognized him after saving him from Rita’s Dark Dimension.

Zaidan smiled, as the others let go of him. “Hey, nice to put faces with the voices.”

Before anything else was said, Billy made a beeline for Jason and pulled him in for a kiss. This was the first time since Jason, Zack, and Trini had come back to Angel Grove to rescue Zaidan that they’d physically seen each other, after all.

Clearing his throat, Tommy said, "Guys, you can get reacquainted later. Right now, we have more pressing concerns.”

"What is it, Tommy?" Trini asked.

"Rita's boss, Lord Zedd, is attacking Angel Grove," Tommy explained. "Basically he's pissed that Rita keeps failing to destroy us and has come to finish the job. He's a lot stronger than Rita - destroyed the zords and our powers with his first monster."

"Damn," Zack said, not wanting to believe that what he was hearing was even possible. "Wait a minute, if he destroyed your powers, how'd you get here?"

“Magic,” Zaidan answered. “I’ll explain later when Earth isn’t in imminent danger of being destroyed. By the way, this is my friend, Wesley Collins.”

“Just call me, Wes,” Wesley said.

Billy nodded. “As you can probably guess, Zaidan and Wes know that Tommy and I are rangers.”

“We’ve got a lead on a power source,” Tommy explained. “But in order to claim it, we need more rangers, so Zaidan and Wes have agreed to join us. We still need three more though, so we’re hoping you guys are willing to come back to active status.”

"You don't even have to ask," Jason said. "If I'm needed, I'll be there. You know that."

Nodding, Zack said, "Yeah, Angel Grove is our home. No way are we going to let this Zedd dude trash it."

"Count me in," Trini said. "The summit is almost over, so we would have been coming back soon anyway and I want to make sure I still have a home to go back to."

"I knew we could count on you guys," Tommy said. "Okay, grab onto Zaidan and hold on tight."

"Is that really necessary?" Zack asked. He had no problem with his friends' sexualities, but he was straight and therefore the idea of holding tightly onto another man did not really appeal to him.

"I'm afraid so, Zack," Zaidan said. "Until the power on Phaedos is ours, your command center is out of juice, so the only way we're getting back to Phaedos is by my magic. It's not like we can just go to NASADA and borrow a spaceship. Even if we could, they don't have one capable of travelling 2,500 light years in anything less than 60 or 70 years. So, unless burning up in Earth's atmosphere or getting spaced sounds appealing to you, I'd suggest holding on as tightly as you can so that my magic can shield you during transport."

"How is it that you even have magic?" Jason asked. "Everyone we've ever met with magic up until now is evil. How can we even trust you?"

“He’s trustworthy, Jase,” Tommy said. “As you already know, he’s Rocky’s boyfriend and we all trust him, so just trust me, bro. Zaidan is not the enemy.”

Billy nodded, and said, “As for the other queries, I think it would be advantageous to save those explanations until after we deal with Zedd's Pirantishead monster."

Jason still wasn't totally comfortable trusting Zaidan, but he nodded, as he along with the other rangers grabbed onto the blond-haired teen and held on as tightly as they could. Seconds later, the room was empty as the seven teens disappeared in a flash of light.

-o-0-o-

Arriving back on Phaedos, Tommy led the way up the path that Dulcea had pointed out earlier. It was quite a climb up to the plateau, but finally, they found it. The others who'd stayed behind were waiting for them and a quick round of handshakes and hugs were exchanged as old friends who hadn't seen each other in a while greeted one another.

After a minute, Tommy turned to Dulcea and after quickly introducing her to Jason, Zack, Trini, and Wes, he said, “Okay, I think we’re ready. There’s eleven of us now.”

“Indeed, there are,” Dulcea said, as she walked to the center of the camp, where a large fire was burning in a pit. "We will now call upon the sacred animals of the Ninjetti for help. All of you, stand by the fire, opposite me."

As the teenagers moved into position, Dulcea took a small pouch from her belt and poured some kind of powder from inside it into her hand, before turning to face the group and saying, "Buried deep within each of us, is an animal spirit waiting to be released. Close your eyes and look deep inside."

Once everyone's eyes were closed, Dulcea raised her hands to her mouth and blew the powder from her hands over the fire, which immediately roared to life, the flames getting much higher than they had been, almost as if someone had just thrown gasoline on them. After a moment, a sparkling mist appeared over the now raging bonfire and surrounded the eleven teenagers as Dulcea looked on.

Moments later, their outfits changed to the traditional robes of the ancient Ninjetti. Each of their outfits were in a different color with the outfits worn by the six most recent rangers reflecting their ranger colors with a white sash tied around their waists. The exception was Tommy whose sash was black so that it didn't blend in with his otherwise white clothes. In the center of each of their chests a golden circle was visible, depicting the sacred Ninjetti animal that had bonded with each of them.

Moving down the line from right to left, Dulcea said, "Aisha, you are the bear: fierce and unstoppable. Rocky, powerful, smart, you are the mighty ape. Billy, you are the wolf, cunning and swift. Agile Kimberly, light as a feather, you are the crane." Reaching Adam, Dulcea noticed that he looked upset, which prompted her to ask, “Adam? Adam, what's wrong?"

"I'm a frog," Adam replied in a rather depressed and underwhelmed tone.

Before Dulcea could say anything, Tommy grinned at his boyfriend and said, "What is it they say about frogs? You're supposed to kiss them?" Leaning over, Tommy kissed Adam lightly on the lips, before pulling away with a smile and commenting, "Hey, it worked. I got a handsome prince."

That put a smile on Adam's face, as well as several of the others, as Dulcea laughed softly to herself, before moving on to Tommy, as she said, "You, Tommy, are the falcon, winged lord of the skies."

Dulcea now turned her attention to the next person in the line, Zaidan, whose robes were purple, oddly enough, with a white sash. "Zaidan, clever, elusive, and fierce when threatened, you are the wolverine. I know you were worried that your sire had tainted you, but this was the first of the tests you will face. None of the sacred Ninjetti animals are evil by nature and they would not bond with anyone who was. The fact that you're wearing the Ninjetti robes indicates that you have passed the first and most important test."

Zaidan was visibly relieved by Dulcea's words, while Trini and Zack looked confused and Jason looked like he was about to say something. Before he could speak up, however, Dulcea moved on to Wes, who was wearing green with a white sash. "Wesley, you are the stealthy serval, who hears what is missed by others."

Coming to Trini, who was wearing black with a metallic bronze sash, Dulcea said, "Trini, you are the mighty bison. Courageous and always up for a challenge."

Moving on to Zack, who was also wearing black and sporting a metallic silver sash, Dulcea said, "Zack, you are the soul singing hyena. You are patient and know the value of teamwork."

As Dulcea stepped in front of the last person in line, dressed in black with a metallic gold sash, she smiled. "Jason, you were the first of your friends to accept the mantle of Ranger. You left, but when the need was great you set aside what you wanted to do and answered the call once again. You are the courageous Bald Eagle. Full of strength and wisdom, you truly show others what can be obtained through great power and balance."

Taking a few steps back and looking at all of them, Dulcea said, "To be in harmony with a sacred animal spirit is to have the force of the Ninjetti. To those who are Ninjetti anything is possible. Now, to claim the Great Power, you must cross the Niola Jungle and survive the tests that await you there. The strength is inside of you. Trust it. Your sacred animals will be your guides."

"You're not coming with us, Dulcea?" Jason asked, as he got the distinct impression that this was goodbye.

"As I told the others before you arrived, Jason," Dulcea said, "I cannot set foot in the Niola Jungle as I would begin to rapidly age and die. So, no, I'm afraid you will have to do this on your own, but of all the many people who have come before you, you are the first group that I honestly believe will succeed." At this, Dulcea began to glow, as she said, "May your sacred animals watch over you," before she transformed before their eyes into the form of an owl, who perched on a rock for a moment, before flying away.

"What did Dulcea mean?" Jason finally asked. "About Zaidan fearing that he was tainted?"

Zaidan sighed. "You asked me earlier how I even had magic, Jason. Well, the truth is I inherited it from my sire and I mean that in the parental sense, even if the person in question is hands down the universe's worst parent who I wish daily I was not related to."

"That's kind of harsh, isn't it?" Zack asked, obviously not knowing just who Zaidan was talking about.

"No, Zack, it really isn't," Zaidan said. "You'll notice that I say my sire. I refuse to call him by any of the other names one would usually use for their male parent. He wasn't really a parent to begin with, seeing as how he doesn't even know that I’m his son. Which is actually the way I prefer it, since I want nothing to do with him. He's nothing more than a sperm donor and he wasn't really donating if you get my meaning."

Trini was always a perceptive girl, and she paled as she asked, "You mean he..." she didn't finish, however, as Zaidan nodded and said, "Yes, he brutally beat and raped my mother. Nine months later, I was born, so, yeah, I really want nothing to do with the bastard. Now, can we go get the Great Power and stop Pirantishead from trashing Angel Grove?"

"I'd have to agree," Billy said. "Every second we're here equates to more property damage back home and the potential for lives lost."

"Right," Tommy said, as he headed for the path leading down from the plateau in the direction of the jungle. "Let's go, guys. People are depending on us and I for one refuse to let them down."

-o-0-o-

To be continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter Nine of ‘Breaking the Cycle’. I hope you all enjoyed it. This is the first chapter of a 3-5 chapter arc, so there’ll be 2-4 more chapters after this before I move on to the next story in my update list. As of right now I’m not sure if it’ll be only 3 chapters, 4 chapters, or 5 chapters, but there will be a minimum of 3 total including this one.
> 
> Also, so you all know, I’ll be taking the entire month of November off from writing fan fiction in order to concentrate on original fiction during NaNoWriMo, so once November 1st comes around, you will not see any updates until sometime in December. Although I do plan to get out as many chapters as I can between now and November 1st. I doubt I’ll actually finish the arc, however.
> 
> While very few of the pages for this story have been created yet, I've now started the Stories by Jayson Wiki, which will in time have information not only about this story but also my other stories as well, including profiles of the original characters and selected canon characters. Only registered users that I give permission can create/edit content, so for the time being I'm the only one who can add or create anything, so if the information is there, you'll know it's "canon" for this story, as it's coming directly from me. http://wiki.worldofslash.com/index.php?title=Stories_by_Jayson_Wiki
> 
> Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/storiesbyjayson), or on Twitter @JVascardi. Alternatively, you can also try to contact me via Skype (text messaging only) at jayson.vascardi.


	12. Chapter Ten

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Power Rangers and all related material is the property of Saban and/or Disney. I claim no ownership to it and am not making any money from this story. The only thing about this story that I own are the characters, places, and storylines not featured on the show.
> 
> Established Pairings: Rocky DeSantos/OMC: Zaidan Prince, Adam Park/Tommy Oliver, Jason Scott/Billy Cranston
> 
> Future Pairings: Wes Collins/OMC
> 
> Warnings: Established Relationships, Original Characters, Alternate Universe, Slash, M/M Sex, Violence, Language, Season Crossover, Magic, Mpreg

Breaking the Cycle  
Written by J.C. Vascardi

-o-0-o-

Chapter Ten

-o-0-o-

"Right," Tommy said, as he headed for the path leading down from the plateau in the direction of the jungle. "Let's go, guys. People are depending on us and I for one refuse to let them down."

The others nodded, as they followed Tommy down the path to the jungle below the plateau. It was a rather long walk, just like when they’re originally came up, but eventually they made it the bottom. Upon arriving, however, they found all further progress blocked by a wall that had been invisible from above due to the jungle canopy. There was, however, no visible means of climbing over the wall nor where there any trees or vines on this side of it that would aid in that endeavor.

There were, however, two identical pairs of gates in the wall, with a stone obelisk between them. As they approached the obelisk it glowed brightly and words began appearing on it. At first they were in an ancient hieroglyphic language that none of them recognized but then after a moment, they morphed into English. It read:

**_Ahead are two paths protected by identical gates, but what lies beyond is anything but. The path on the left will feature less resistance and get you to your goal faster. The path on the right will feature more resistance and get you to your goal slower. Picking the path of least resistance that will get you to your goal faster, however, is not without cost, as you will bypass a village of one hundred men, women, and children who will surely die without help. You must decide as a group which way to go and only one way will open._ **

“Well, Dulcea did say that we would be tested on whether we’d use the powers for good or evil,” Tommy said after a moment. “I guess this is one of the first tests.”

Zaidan nodded. “So it would seem. Do we pick the path that sacrifices the lives of a hundred strangers, but will get us to our goal faster or the one that will take longer, but give us the opportunity to help those hundred strangers?”

“Well, Zedd is very likely wreaking havoc back home,” Wes said. “The longer it takes us to get the powers and go back home, the more innocent people could die. Potentially including our friends and family.”

“True,” Trini said. “However, as rangers, we’re supposed to protect the innocent. And I for one don’t like the idea of abandoning a hundred people to die if I have the opportunity to save them. Strangers or not.”

After a moment of silence, Tommy said, “Well, we’ll put it to a vote. Option one is the easier path, while option two is the harder path.”

Not wanting to influence the others by voting first, since he was the leader of the team, Tommy pointed at each of his friends one by one, and only once they’d all voted did he add his own vote to the mix, which tallied unanimously with that of his friends: they’d take the harder path. While it may have been tempting to pull a Spock and put it in terms of ‘the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,’ none of them thought that they’d be able to live with themselves if they made the choice to sacrifice a hundred people in their quest for power.

So, as a group they walked towards the gate on the right, which caused a beam of light to shoot out of the obelisk at the gate on the left. The gates shimmered for a moment, before merging with the wall until those gates disappeared completely. A moment later, the gates they chose swung open, allowing them to proceed down their chosen path.

Once they’d all passed through the gates, they shut behind them. Ahead of them, they could see a twisting jungle path that was rather overgrown, but they could just make out what looked like a thatched roof at the end, suggesting a village of some sort. As they approached the path, however, vines quickly grew up from the ground, blocking further movement as a hooded man appeared out of thin air.

“You’ve chosen the harder path,” the man said, “but I give you the chance to change your minds.”

As he spoke, a second path opened between the trees and with a clear view of what appeared to be the monolith. “This shortcut will get you to your goal even faster than the path you chose not to take.”

“What’s the catch?” Zaidan asked.

“The catch is that the villagers will die,” the man said. “But you don’t want to save them.”

“Why?” Kimberly asked.

“Because what threatens them is starvation,” the man said. “And if you enter their village they will invite you to stay for dinner and by stay I mean that you will become dinner.”

“You mean the villagers are cannibals?” Rocky asked.

“Precisely,” the man said. “So, I offer you the chance to bypass their village, survive, and get the power you seek faster. Choose not to take the shortcut, however, and well, you might be able to fight them off and live, but I wouldn’t bet on it.”

“And how do we know you’re telling the truth?” Jason asked.

“What reason could I have to lie?” the man asked in response. “Besides, I live on this planet and you do not. So who would you say is the one who knows the people of this world better? You or me?”

Everyone was silent for a moment, as they looked at each other. Well, everyone except Zaidan, however, who was concentrating on the hooded man. Reaching out with his empathic abilities he almost immediately got the feeling that this man wasn’t being truthful.

“He’s lying,” Zaidan said aloud.

The man turned to Zaidan at this and asked, “Really? And are you willing to gamble your life and that of your friends on your magic tricks?”

Knowing about Zaidan’s telepathic and empathic abilities, Wes came over to stand next to Zaidan and said, “If Zaidan says you’re lying then I believe him.”

“So do I,” Rocky said, as he joined Wes at Zaidan’s side. He’d already made the mistake of not trusting Zaidan once recently and he was determined not to repeat it.

“And what about the three of you?” the man asked, as he turned to look directly at Jason, Zack, and Trini. “Are you going to put your lives in his hands? Based solely on his word? You don’t really know him, after all.” Looking at Jason, he added, “And I can tell that you’re not comfortable with his magic.”

Before Jason could answer, however, Zaidan said, “It’s not my magic that’s telling me that you’re lying.”

“Really?” the man asked. “Then what is?”

“Magic isn’t my only gift,” Zaidan said. “I’m also an empath and I’m not sensing any good intentions coming from you. What I am sensing is the complete opposite, in fact.”

“Magic and empathy?” Jason asked, his tone clearly confused. “How do you have either one?”

The hooded man shifted his head just enough for his mouth to be visible under the shadow cast over his face by his hood and he grinned, as he said, “He didn’t tell you the secret he’s keeping from you, did he? He wants you to trust him but he’s not willing to trust you in return.”

Shaking his head, Zaidan said, “Jason, it’s not that I don’t trust you. You helped save me from Rita, so I owe you my life. I admit there are things about myself that I haven’t told you, Zack, and Trini, but that’s got more to do with the fact that I don’t like talking about some of it, because it makes me sick.”

“He’s told us his secrets, Jase,” Billy said. “And I believe that he’s trustworthy.”

“I appreciate that, Billy,” Zaidan said. “But I guess the time has come for me to come clean with them as well.” Taking a deep breath, he said, “The short version is that I’m not human and wasn’t even born in this galaxy. My race—Kalradians—are gifted with telepathy and empathy, both of which I inherited from my late mother. As for the magic, that was inherited from my sire.” Closing his eyes for a moment, he added, “Lord Zedd.”

Zack’s eyes widened at this, as he said, “You’re Lord Zedd’s son?”

Before Zaidan could say a word, Trini said, “Well, that would explain why he said that his sire was the worst parent in the universe. I don’t really know Zedd very well, but if he’s Rita’s boss, I can imagine he’s just as bad as or worse than her, so I can’t say I’d want either of them as a parent.”

“It’s not like Zaid had a choice,” Wes said. “You don’t get to pick who your parents are. If you could, I certainly wouldn’t have picked the man who abandoned me over two-thousand miles from home with only the clothes on my back and twenty dollars in my wallet just because he found out I was gay.”

“As I said, I trust Zaidan,” Billy said, as Rocky and Wes nodded their heads in agreement. Shortly thereafter, Kimberly, Aisha, Adam, and Tommy all indicated that they too trusted Zaidan.

That was enough for Trini and Zack, who moved over to stand with the others, leaving only Jason standing a few feet away from them and not having indicated trust or not.

Before he could move or speak, however, the hooded man said, “So what’s it going to be Jason? Are you going to blindly trust your friends and follow like a sheep? You’re the former leader of the Power Rangers, so it should be you that they’re following, not the other way around. Doesn’t that make you angry?”

Jason’s eyes narrowed at this. “This is another test and you’re trying to manipulate me. Sadly it’s not going to work. You’re right that I was the leader of the Power Rangers. Leaving out how you even know about them since we’re a long way from Earth and none of us mentioned them, the answer is no. I’m not angry that I’m no longer their leader. I was leaving the team, so of course a new leader was chosen. I wouldn’t expect Zordon to keep me on as leader once I was no longer an active ranger.”

After a moment, he added, “I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Zaidan’s connection to Zedd, but I do know that I trust my friends. Tommy is like a brother to me and I love Billy with all my heart, so your attempt to divide us won’t work,” as he joined the others.

The man laughed. “Very well then,” as the trees moved back together to block the shortcut he’d revealed and the vines blocking the path towards the village disappeared. Just before he too vanished, the man said, “Proceed towards the village.”

Everyone was silent for a few minutes, as they looked at each other. Finally, Rocky remembered something Zaidan had said earlier. “Z? Why did you say earlier that you were born nine months after Zedd had… well, you know… I thought you’d said in the Command Center that Kalradians were pregnant longer than that.”

Zaidan nodded. “I did and they are. I said nine months earlier as I figured it would raise questions that I wasn’t prepared to answer at the time if I said that I was actually born twelve months after Zedd raped my mother.”

“Twelve months?” Trini asked.

“Kalradians have a longer gestation period,” Billy answered.

“And the males can get pregnant,” Wes added with a grin to his friend. “So, someday, we may see little Rocky-Zaidan clones running around.”

“Actually, you probably won’t,” Zaidan said, as he fought the blush that had descended over both his and Rocky’s faces. “While it’s true that Kalradian men can get pregnant via a telepathic link with their partner, I never actually learned how to perform that particular link. We’re normally trained in the more advanced mind arts starting at age sixteen, but I left Kalrad when I was thirteen. So I only went through basic training.”

“Why’d you leave when you were only thirteen?” Zack asked, at almost the same time that Kimberly asked, “What exactly would basic training entail?”

“I left because Kalrad was conquered and destroyed by Zedd,” Zaidan said. “Which is why I would never work for him, because my home was destroyed and my family and my entire race are dead because of him. As for basic training, it’s mostly basic telepathy and empathy. Talking to other telepaths via thought instead of speech and learning how to shield yourself from emotions.”

“Shielding yourself from emotion?” Trini asked.

Zaidan nodded. “As an empath I can reach out and literally feel the emotions of those around me. But basic training includes how to shield yourself from the emotions of other people. From birth until about the age of six, all Kalradian children are pretty much sequestered and not allowed around large groups of people until they learn how to shield themselves properly. Imagine if you could feel all of your own emotions, plus feeling the emotions of every other person in the room as strongly as if they were your own. Now imagine that there’s ten, twenty, or even a hundred other people in the room. That would be too much emotion for your brain to handle all at once.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” Aisha said. “So that’s how you knew that guy had bad intentions?”

“Yeah,” Zaidan said. “Basic training includes tapping into a specific person’s emotions, while continuing to block out those of other people. Thus, I can get a sense on what the other person is feeling and whether or not they’re being truthful. For a fully-trained adult Kalradian, it’s next to impossible to lie to them, as they can not only read your emotions but your thoughts as well, so duplicity is picked up on very quickly.”

“But you can’t read minds only emotions?” Jason asked.

“Well, I can read minds to a very limited degree,” Zaidan answered. “I can see what might be called people’s surface thoughts. In other words the thoughts they’re actively having at that moment. But without the advanced training, I can’t actually delve into their minds and read their deepest, darkest secrets. And even with that training, there are ways of blocking telepaths from reading you. Unfortunately, I can’t teach those methods to any of you because I never got the advanced training.”

“And because we’re not Kalradian, right?” Adam asked.

Shaking his head, “Actually, no, that has nothing to do with it. You may have heard that humans use less than three percent of their brain power and that’s actually true. Almost every human could learn various mind arts, such as telepathy, empathy, and even telekinesis. Some will be better at a specific discipline than others, but they can still learn it. They just need a qualified teacher—which I’m not—and the willingness to learn.”

“Interesting,” Tommy said. “Anyway, we should probably get a move on because I for one would like to get out of the jungle before nightfall.”

Night had already fallen by the time Dulcea had gone through the Ninjetti spirit animal ritual with them and they had actually waited until morning to descend down into the jungle, as trying to walk through a jungle in the middle of the night with no light source wasn’t really the best idea. With the sun up, however, they could see where they were going, but that wouldn’t be the case if it took too long to reach the monolith where the powers were stored. And if they ended up doing any fighting, they’d much rather do it when they could actually see their opponents.

Walking down the path, it proved to be longer than any of them had at first thought, but eventually they arrived at a clearing which held a village. There were about three dozen of huts of various sizes and they were surprised to note that a few of them even had more than one floor. Although two floors above the ground floor seemed to be the limit, as the tallest building in the village had a fully enclosed floor above the ground floor, plus an open air tower on top of that, which the others guessed was a form of watch tower.

The village was surrounded by a two foot deep ditch that was about four feet across with large shafts of wood driven into the ground at forty-five degree angles, with the tops of the shafts sharpened into points. It wasn’t the most advanced defensive system ever built, but it was probably effective against any enemy that the village dealt with regularly, which was probably jungle predators for the most part. It’s also why the rangers could see the village’s huts, as the shafts of wood didn’t block their view of what lay beyond them the way that an outer wall would have. Near the path on which they’d emerged from the jungle was a bridge across the ditch that led to the village itself, a gate placed across it to block access to the village.

As they got closer, however, a sound like a horn of some kind blew and there was an increase in activity in the village as women could be seen ushering their children inside. While the men seemed to be grabbing weapons—mostly rudimentary spears by the looks of it—and moving towards the gate that the rangers were standing near.

“I think they know we’re here,” Rocky said. “And it doesn’t look like they’re happy to see us.”

“Well, we are strangers to them,” Adam pointed out. “And we’re dressed quite differently than they are.”

This much was true, as the villagers seemed to have very little use for clothing beyond covering certain parts of their bodies. So the men, for example, were wearing what basically amounted to loincloths, while the women also wore coverings over their breasts, but otherwise the vast majority of their skin was exposed. Which actually did make sense if you lived in the midst of a jungle, as it was rather humid and they obviously would not have such things as air conditioning or electric fans.

The rangers, however, were all covered from head to foot in their multi-colored Ninjetti uniforms. Of course, Adam, Trini, Zack, and Jason probably had it worse than the others, considering that they were all wearing black, which would be very good at trapping heat.

As the gate opened and a group of young men crossed the bridge, they moved to stand in a line blocking access to the bridge. The points of their spears pointed outward at the rangers, as they made noises that might have been a language or perhaps just noise they thought might frighten the rangers away. Of course, that didn’t really work too well, as the majority of the rangers had faced off against monsters that were a lot scarier than a spear-wielding villager.

Still, not having any weapons of their own, did give them pause since the villagers could probably kill them rather easily if they really wanted to. The rangers, of course, hoped that it wasn’t going to come to a fight as none of them wanted to harm the villagers.

Holding up his hands to show that he wasn’t armed, Tommy said, “We come in peace.” The other rangers nodded as they too held up their hands, showing that they were empty.

Seeing that the rangers weren’t armed, the villagers seemed to relax a little as several of them moved their spears so that the heads of them were pointed at the sky rather than at the rangers themselves. One of the men stepped forward and motioned for the rangers to do the same. When they did, however, the man motioned towards his friends and the rangers were soon surrounded in a circle of villagers.

Once they were surrounded, the man who’d motioned for the rangers to step closer, handed his spear off to another man standing nearby and raised his fists. “We fight now, White One.”

“I don’t want to fight you,” Tommy said, realizing that the man meant him when he said White One since he was wearing almost all white.

“You fight or you die,” the man said.

“Can’t we talk about this?” Tommy asked.

“No talking, choose. Fight or die.”

“Well, I guess in that case, I have no choice,” Tommy said as he got into a fighting stance.

The villager nodded in what Tommy assumed was approval, before throwing the first punch which Tommy’s martial arts training allowed him to dodge rather easily. The man threw another punch which Tommy dodged again with quick foot work, moving to the side of his opponent, before lowering himself closer to the ground and initiating a spinning kick. His left leg hit the villager’s and knocked him off balance, causing him to fall flat on his face.

A moment later, the villager rolled onto his back, but made no move to stand back up. The villager that was now holding two spears stepped forward and held one of them out to Tommy in a clear indication that he should take it. Not wanting to anger the villagers, he did, although he wasn’t sure what he was expected to do with it.

“You win, White One,” the second villager said. “Now finish him.”

“Finish him?” Tommy asked.

“Yes, finish him,” the villager said. “Kill him.”

Tommy’s eyes widened as he said, “No.”

This caused a few murmurs of discontent from the other villagers and Tommy could hear them all muttering about dishonoring defeated warriors by not granting them the release of death and wondering if the White One and his friends intended to enslave the defeated warrior instead.

“I’m not going to enslave anyone,” Tommy said. “Neither are my friends.”

“Then you must kill him,” the second villager said.

“No, I won’t kill him,” Tommy said. “I’m not a murderer.”

“He is defeated in battle,” the second villager said. “You dishonor him by not killing him.”

Before Tommy could answer, an older villager exited the largest building in the village and began walking towards the group at the bridge. He was wearing clothes similar to those of all the other villagers, but he had bird feathers braided into his long gray hair. From the way that the younger villagers moved aside for him and bowed a bit, it was clear that he was some kind of leader or village elder.

“What is going on here?” the man asked, clearly angry, although his anger seemed to be directed not at Tommy or the other rangers, but at the villagers themselves.

“They invaded our village, Elder, and we challenged them to fair combat,” the second villager said. “And now the White One refuses to do the honorable thing and kill his defeated opponent.”

“You never should have challenged them to begin with,” the Elder said. “Did none of you listen to me when I taught you of the Ninjetti?”

Several eyes widened at this and almost at once several of the villagers got down on their knees and bowed their heads. The Elder, meanwhile, turned towards Tommy and seeing the falcon emblazoned in gold upon his chest, the Elder bowed his head and said, “I apologize if any of the younglings offended you, Great Falcon.”

“My name is Tommy Oliver. My friends and I are not the Ninjetti.”

“You wear the uniforms of the Ninjetti, Falcon Tommy Oliver,” the Elder said.

“A woman named Dulcea led us in a ritual on the plateau overlooking the jungle,” Tommy explained. “We’re seeking the Great Power and Dulcea said the Ninjetti spirit animals would help us.”

“If the sacred Ninjetti animals have bonded with you,” the Elder said, “then you are already Ninjetti, whether you possess the Great Power or not.”

Tommy was silent for a moment, before he said, “We’re here because when we descended from the plateau we found two paths before us…”

The Elder nodded. “Yes one path would take you closer to the Great Power, faster. The other would delay you and make your journey slower. You chose the slower path.”

“Exactly. The obelisk at the gates said that there was a village that needed our assistance, but that if we didn’t choose to help them they’d die.”

“That isn’t precisely accurate,” the Elder said. “When the original Ancient Ninjetti—the Creators of the Great Power—created the jungle’s obstacles they were designed to test the character and beliefs of those who would seek out the Great Power. Had you picked the path other than the one you picked, it would have been a point against your worthiness for the power, but we wouldn’t have suffered because of it.”

“Zaidan?” Tommy asked, as he looked over his shoulder.

“He’s telling the truth,” Zaidan said after a moment. “I don’t see any hint of deception or bad intent.”

Tommy nodded and said, “So it was purely a test, presenting a hypothetical choice?”

The Elder nodded. “In this case, yes, however all of the tests you will face will not be so benign. I’m afraid, however, that I cannot tell you what lies ahead. However, the ancient writings of the Ninjetti do say that we should grant you a place to rest, along with food and water.” Looking over at Adam and the others wearing all black, he added, “Along with baths if you so desire to cool off and get rid of the sweat. The Ancient Ninjetti had the Great Power at their disposal and could regulate their body temperatures so that the heat of the jungle didn’t affect them, however, since you don’t currently have it, I’m sure many of you are rather uncomfortable.”

Seeing as how none of them had eaten anything since the previous day and they were rather hot and sweaty, Tommy said, “We will gladly take you up on your hospitality.”

“Come then, enter our village and be welcome,” the Elder said.

-o-0-o-

After spending about two hours in the village between bathing mostly to cool off and getting some food in their stomachs, the rangers left the village via a gate on the opposite side from where they’d entered. They’d also each been provided with a canteen of water to drink on their journey. Rocky asked if they could expect to make it to the monolith before nightfall, to which the Elder had responded that it wasn’t likely. The Elder did, however, reveal that there were a series of waystations setup along the way where it would be safe for them to rest for the evening, along with being able to get food and drink. The first of the waystations being about ten to twelve miles away from the village.

With a clear goal in mind, the rangers set off down the path the Elder had indicated was the direction they should head. Night was approaching by the time they made it to the waystation, which turned out to be a treehouse nestled in the branches of a tall tree. It was similar to a few of the buildings from the village in its design, only in a tree. Climbing up the rope ladder into the house, they found that it had a main room which was setup as a sort of combination living room and kitchen. There was food and everyone was rather happy to see it because it had been a few hours now since they’d left the village and they were all getting hungry.

Once they’d all eaten their fill, they moved to explore the rest of the building which consisted of two additional rooms which turned out to be bedrooms. Both had six cots in them, along with a partitioned area that was clearly meant to be a bathroom of sorts, although without modern plumbing it wasn’t what the rangers were used to. There were curtains hung between the cots, to grant some level of privacy to the people using them. Thus, Kimberly, Aisha, Trini, Wes, and Zack decided to bunk in one room, while Rocky, Zaidan, Tommy, Adam, Jason, and Billy decided to bunk in the other.

Something the rangers had discovered back in the village when they’d bathed to deal with the sweat from the humid jungle was that the clothes they’d arrived on Phaedos wearing were nowhere to be found. Somehow when they’d done the ritual with Dulcea those clothes disappeared entirely and had been replaced by the Ninjetti uniforms. Embarrassingly for many of the rangers, they also realized at that time that their underclothes had also disappeared. On one hand that was a good thing because fewer layers of clothes in a hot and humid jungle was a good thing—especially for Adam, Trini, Zack, and Jason whose Ninjetti uniforms were primarily black—but on the other it meant that none of them could take off the Ninjetti uniforms without being completely naked underneath.

This obviously was a problem for the girls, but it was also an issue for Zaidan, because Wes was still the only person on Earth who had ever seen him without any clothes on. And while Kalradians looked remarkably human in almost every respect, there was still a very distinct difference between human men and Kalradian men when it came to their genitalia. Zaidan knew that he’d have to come clean with Rocky about it soon, but he wasn’t ready to take that step yet, as he felt it would be better to wait at least until they were back on Earth. Unfortunately for him, that would soon not be an option.

Standing in the partitioned bathroom area, Zaidan had his back to the opening of the area, although he’d pulled the curtain closed upon entering. However, Rocky, apparently had to use the bathroom himself and knowing that his boyfriend was the one currently using it, felt there’d be nothing wrong with joining him. It was when he did this, however, that his eyes were as usual, drawn to Zaidan’s butt, which he spent a few moments ogling before his eyes drifted a bit lower and he noticed something when he looked between Zaidan’s legs that had him exclaiming, “What the fuck?”

Zaidan jumped at the unexpected exclamation and turned his head to look back over his shoulder to see Rocky standing there with a shocked expression on his face. Zaidan knew that Rocky hadn’t actually seen his genitals, but even seeing between his legs while he was pissing in the chamber pot, even without his genitals visible, would have revealed that something was very different about Zaidan.

“Shit,” Zaidan mumbled, as he finished up his business and refastened his pants before turning to face Rocky and saying, “Rocky, hey.” As he said this he reached out with his mind and attempted to wipe the last few moments of Rocky’s memory to erase what he’d seen.

“That won’t work, I’m afraid,” a voice said that Zaidan realized was the voice of the hooded man they’d met at the intersection before entering the village. The man himself was nowhere to be found, but his voice still spoke, revealing that he was clearly watching. “I’ve temporarily blocked all of your powers, Mr. Prince, so no wiping of memory. Sorry.”

Zaidan sighed and hung his head. “I know what you saw Rocky and I guess I’m going to have to explain now.”

Rocky nodded. “Yes, but first, I’ve gotta take care of business.”

“Yeah, I’ll just leave you to do that,” Zaidan said as he left the partitioned area only to find all of the rangers standing there waiting for him, including the ones from the other room, as they’d probably heard Rocky’s exclamation and came to investigate.

“You heard Rocky shouting, I’m guessing?” Zaidan asked.

Jason nodded. “Yeah, it was pretty hard to miss.”

“Question is what prompted him to shout?” Aisha asked.

Zaidan closed his eyes at this and said, “Wes can probably guess, considering where I just was.”

Wes’s eyes widened in recognition, but he remained silent, as Zaidan said, “I so hadn’t intended to have this conversation with all of you. Wes knows, but the reason for Rocky’s exclamation is an issue of a private nature.”

“You shouldn’t keep secrets from your teammates, Mr. Prince,” the voice said. “It’s unconducive to working together as a team if there’s secrets between you.”

“Oh shutup!” Zaidan exclaimed. “Some secrets are okay, if you ask me. The secret you’re asking me to reveal is of a very private nature as I said and is not something that any of the others except Rocky really needs to know. And the only reason that he should know is because we’re a couple.”

“You’ve shared your secret with Mr. Collins and you’re not a couple with him,” the voice pointed out.

“Yes but there’s a reason for that,” Zaidan said. “A reason that doesn’t exist with any of the others. They don’t need to know.”

“Your reluctance to tell the full truth only shows you don’t trust them, Mr. Prince,” the voice said. “I will continue to block your powers, including your magic, until you prove me wrong.”

Rocky came out of the bathroom area at this point and said, “Z, it sounds like you don’t have a choice.”

Zaidan sighed. “I know and I hate it. As I’ve already said, it’s my belief that there is no reason for most of you to know what Rocky saw or what Wes knows. Because it doesn’t affect any of you and has absolutely nothing to do with my ability to be an effective ranger. Honestly, it would be as completely unnecessary as Kimberly, Aisha, or Trini sharing every single detail of a visit with their gynecologists with all of us.”

Everybody’s eyes widened at that, as the girls blushed, and Zaidan took a moment to collect his thoughts. “But since it seems the damn hooded figure from earlier doesn’t want to give me a choice in this matter, it seems I have to tell you whether I want to or not.”

Moving to sit on the cot he’d claimed, Zaidan said, “Now, it’s not that I’m ashamed of what I’m about to tell you, because I’m not, but from a human standpoint, it’s probably going to be difficult to believe. Wes refused to believe me when I told him and started laughing at me, as he was sure that I was joking.”

Wes nodded. “Indeed, I did think he was joking, at least until he showed me the proof of his claims. Hopefully it won’t come down to that now because this is a very private thing and unless you’re planning on being intimate with Zaid, there’s really no reason for you to physically see the proof.”

Eyes closed and his forehead resting on his hands, Zaidan said, “You all know that I’m not human. As you can no doubt see, my species looks remarkably human in that I can easily pass for one and that’s not any form of magical manipulation on my part. However, Kalradian men are not exactly the same as human men in every respect.” He paused here and then asked, “So, hooded dude, wherever you are, please tell me that you’re not going to make me drop my pants and show them.”

“You don’t have to go that far, Mr. Prince,” the voice said. “That would be cruel and unusual.”

“I consider being forced to tell them at all to be cruel and unusual,” Zaidan said in response.

“An anatomy lesson is not cruel or unusual, Mr. Prince,” the voice said. “How is you telling them the difference between your species and theirs any different from your health teacher in school telling the class the difference between girls and boys?”

“It’s official. I hate you,” Zaidan mumbled. “Anyway, as you can no doubt guess from that little bit of context, this is about my anatomy. Specifically my genitals, which I maintain that none of you really need to know about.” After a moment’s pause, Zaidan, who was now blushing redder than an over ripe tomato, added, “Human men have two testicles. Kalradian men, on the other hand, have four.”

“So you’re saying that you have four balls?” Adam asked, who’s own cheeks were rather red, along with everyone else thanks to this uncomfortable conversation.

“Yes, Adam, that’s what I’m saying,” Zaidan confirmed. “However, that’s not even the strangest part and not what caused Rocky’s exclamation, as I’m fairly certain he didn’t actually see my genitals, since my back was turned to him at the time.”

“You’re right, I didn’t,” Rocky said, although he didn’t elaborate on what he’d actually seen.

“Kalradian men have twice the number of testicles than human men,” Zaidan said, “because we’re diphallic.”

"Diphallic?" Tommy asked, as he screwed up his brow in thought. After a moment, when he wasn't able to figure out what the word could possibly mean, he asked, "What does that even mean?"

Most of the others looked like they didn’t know either, although Billy looked like he understood. Of course, Zaidan couldn’t say that he was surprised at that because Billy was a genius and easily the most learned person in the room. Trini also looked like she understood, however, although from what he’d heard from the others, Zaidan knew that Trini had often served as Billy’s translator to their friends, translating his geek-speak into plain English.

“Diphallic would mean two cocks,” Billy stated in a somewhat matter-of-fact tone, although his cheeks were tinged red as he said it.

“You have two dicks?” Zack asked. When Zaidan nodded, Zack shook his head and said, “Okay, hooded dude, wherever you are, I didn’t need to know that. There is such a thing as too much information and this is a prime example.”

“Knowledge is power, Mr. Taylor,” the voice said. “Those who would turn away knowledge are fools. There’s no such thing as too much information, especially about your enemy.”

“Zaidan isn’t the enemy, however,” Rocky pointed out. “He’s our friend and my boyfriend.” After a moment, he added softly, “I guess that explains what I saw earlier.”

"So, you mean when you take a piss it..." Jason didn’t finish that statement, as he blushed bright red.

“Comes out both of them, yes,” Zaidan said.

"I don't even know how you would deal with that,” Adam said with a shake of his head.

"By taking both in my hand, holding them together, and pointing them towards the toilet," Zaidan said with a grin. "For obvious reasons, I do tend to avoid using urinals in public bathrooms, simply because I don't need anyone next to me taking a peak and yelling 'Holy shit!'"

"Well, you couldn't exactly blame them if they did," Wes said.

“True enough,” Zaidan said. “Now, hooded person, is that enough sharing for now? Please say yes.”

“Yes, that’s enough for now,” the voice said. “Good night, everyone, pleasant dreams.”

-o-0-o-

To be continued…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there you have Chapter 10 of ‘Breaking the Cycle’ and with it the answer to the question about what’s different about Zaidan’s anatomy. I don’t imagine many, if any in fact, guessed that was the difference that Zaidan was hiding. So, as you can no doubt tell, I’ve changed things up on Phaedos a bit. The battle with the triceratops skeleton and the stone golems depicted in the movie will probably still happen, but I’m going to try to include a few more tests between where they are now and the monolith. So if anyone has any ideas for morality or team work tests, please feel free to share them in a review.
> 
> Anyway, I’m thinking there’ll be one more chapter in this arc before I move on to my Harry Potter story, ‘Knights of the Founders’ for 3-5 chapters, which will be followed by 3-5 chapters of my Smallville fic, ‘Brotherly Love’. Of course, that could change if I get enough suggestions for the next chapter or inspiration strikes and I decide to cover a bit more than I originally planned.
> 
> Questions? Comments? Suggestions? I love hearing from my readers, so feel free to contact me in a review, by email, my Yahoo group (http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/storiesbyjayson), or on Twitter @JVascardi. Alternatively, you can also try to contact me via Skype (text messaging only) at jayson.vascardi. Also, check out the wiki for my stories: http://wiki.worldofslash.com/index.php?title=Stories_by_Jayson_Wiki


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